


The Midnight Man

by icalldibs



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Bromance, Character Death, Danny's a Werewolf, Demons, Dethan, Everything turns out OK, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Graduation, Hallucinations, Love, Lust, Lydia's a Werewolf, M/M, Minor Character Death, Scisaac - Freeform, Spirits, Twin Alphas, Violence, Werebabies, Wolf Pack, gay relationships, jackson's a werewolf, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:57:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icalldibs/pseuds/icalldibs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He's here, Lyd." Allison relaxed her head against her best friends door, trying to make the room stop spinning. This was it. This was how she was going to go out.</p><p>"No. Nonononononono." Lydia's vision was blurred by tears as she rammed her shoulder into her door for the third time, "This isn't how this is supposed to happen."</p><p>Allison's head was moving along with the rhythm Lydia set, "It's not going to budge."</p><p>"What's the point of being a werewolf if you can't even save your best friend?" Lydia went back to breaking down the door. She finally stopped and sunk to her knees, "Allison, I'm so sorry."</p><p>(Or in other words: A big bad comes into town (The Midnight Man) after the girls play the game. The pack tries to stop it and Sterek happens... along with a lot of other relationships. Yeah. There's a lot more to this story though.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's Play a Game

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: the game that Lydia and Allison play in this book is real and shouldn't be taken lightly. But if you want to play it, the link will be at the end of the notes. Be careful and play at your own risk. 
> 
> But other than that, enjoy the chapter!
> 
> http://urbanlegendsonline.com/the-midnight-man/

"Okay, so we're just supposed to put blood on a piece of paper," Allison began, "Then put it on a door-"

"A wooden door!" Erica piped in, "Don't forget. It has to be a wooden door. Made of wood. ALLLL wooden. The door I mean."

Allison glanced at Erica, "Yes. A wooden door. Thank you for the reminder, Erica." Even though Alison already knew.

Erica smiled to herself, proud to be contributing to the group. Since she joined the pack, she has been having a hard time fitting in with the girls. Trying to be "normal." Either way she was going to kill Boyd for making her agree to "girl bonding" with the other girls in the pack, while the guys got to watch reruns and old games at Derek's loft. She would much rather be doing that.

"Then we are supposed to knock 22 times and some 'Man' is going to appear."

"Well, only after we blow out then relight the candle." Lydia confirmed, you could see the excitement radiating off of her. "But we can't leave the house until exactly 3:33 am. Or the Midnight Man will be released to do what he wants and can't be stopped." Lydia shot off a huge smile, "Are you guys ready?"

Allison took a deep breath in before telling Lydia her answer, "Ready as I'll ever be, right? How 'bout you, Erica?"

Erica looked up from biting her nails, even her big bad wolf side couldn't stop her from retreating to her old habits. Because, hey, just because you're a wolf, doesn't mean you can't get scared out of your mind. "Guys, I don't know if I really want to do this. I- I don't know if I'll be able to."

Lydia reached over and grabbed Erica's hand; she could smell the fear coming from her. And, even though Allison is human, she could smell it as well. They both understood that Erica was scared and, to be honest, they were too. "It's going to be just fine." Lydia soothed.

"Yeah it will be, and if you don't believe us you can always leave. Go back to Derek's. We won’t judge you." Allison reassured her.

Pondering her options, Erica chose the latter, "I'm really sorry guys. I just. I can't do this. I- I," Erica stood up and walked out of Lydia's room, "I'm going to the loft and I'm gonna meet up with Boyd." Walking out of Lydia's front door, then to her car, Erica screamed out, "AND I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF IT'S 'GUYS NIGHT.'"

Giggles were shared between Allison and Lydia as they waited until Lydia couldn't hear Erica's car anymore to start the game. Once the car was out of hearing distance, Lydia turned toward Allison, "Let's start!"

Lydia pulled her long strawberry-blonde hair into a tight, high pony. It was about 11:30 PM, so they have about a half hour to get all the supplies ready for the game. Allison grabbed the salt, the paper, and the candles while Lydia went after the needles and the lighter. They both met in front of Lydia's front door at 11:57. Three minutes to prepare themselves for the game. Three minutes until they called the Midnight Man.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Derek sat upstairs in his room, trying to hide from social interaction. Just because he was the Alpha of a pack, doesn't mean that he needs to chaperone his hormonal, Beta teenagers, Stiles included. And Derek needed to keep Stiles out of his mind, and away from his thoughts. Sure they had one night, one... great night, two WEEKS ago. But it can't be anything more. If they get too involved, Derek will just end up hurting the pale-skinned boy. He can't bring himself to do that, to be the one responsible who hurt him. Who brought the look of terror on his face. His beautiful, flawless face. No. He can't and he won’t. So Derek finds comfort in building his biceps, triceps, pecks, etc., to keep in mind away from Stiles. For a while it worked, until Stiles brought it upon himself to "check up on Derek."

As soon as Stiles walked through the bedroom door, Derek jumped down from his pull up bar, "What are you doing here?" Derek grabbed a towel and walked toward his bed. Taking the unusual silence from Stiles, Derek continued," Stiles. Shouldn't you be downstairs?" Great, the boy's aroused. Now would be a good time to put a shirt on, Derek thought to himself. He grabbed a clean, grey shirt from his dresser drawer and noticed that Stiles was watching his every move.

It was only until after Derek put a shirt on, Stiles could speak again. "What did you say?"

"What are you doing here?" Derek repeated. He was trying to focus on NOT dragging Stiles to his bed right there, taking him once more.

Stiles finally made eye contact with Derek, and gosh, Derek really loved the color of his eyes. So very brown he could melt in them. _KEEP IT TOGETHER, DEREK_. "Um, uh." Stiles ran a hand through his longer hair and took a deep breath, "I think we should, uh, we should talk."

"Now? Here?"

"Yeah now, here. Unless you would rather talk in the living room with Scott, Isaac, Boyd, and Erica as an audience." He made his way over to Derek's bed.

"Erica's here?" Why didn't Derek smell her?

"Stop trying to change the subject."

Derek needs to keep his mind straight, "Okay, then let's talk." Stiles was in his bed again and all he wanted to do was be inside of him. Feel him close to his body once again. And it might just happen soon if Stiles doesn't start talking any time soon.

"Our graduation party," Stiles began. "About two weeks ago? You. Me. In this bed."

This was going to be an interesting night.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Allison and Lydia went over the rules again, then the clock struck midnight and it was time to begin the game. Summoning the Midnight Man takes a lot of focus and energy. In order for everything to work, Lydia and Allison have to do each of the steps themselves. Starting with writing their name on a piece of blood-soaked paper and place it on the door. The lights are supposed to go off next, Allison taking the top floor, Lydia taking the bottom.

Once they both met back at the door, the candles were lit and the twenty-two knocks were done, all within a minute. The game has begun.

"I hate to admit it, but I'm really scared." Lydia confessed.

Allison shot Lydia a glare, "No. You do not get to be scared, okay. This was _your_ idea."

"I know. I know." Lydia reached down and grabbed Allison's hand, "But I think I still have a right to be scared out of my freaking skirt right now."

Allison squeezed Lydia's hand, "Yeah. Sorry I flipped. I'm just; really, scared too and nothing scary has happened yet. What the Hell did we get ourselves into, Lydia?"

"Ugh. I don't know. But I'm really hating Scott and Isaac for even suggesting that we do this." The two were now headed up stairs to the balcony, moving around the house was supposed to keep The Midnight Man off of their trail or something. "We are royally fucked right now."

A small laugh escaped Allison's lips, "I'm going to kill Scott if we ever get out of this."

"How are you even going to catch him? You know he'll just run away."

"Maybe, but that why I'm going to trap him in a room lined with mountain ash. More like seduce him there with my good looks." Allison smiled and fluffed her dark, black hair. "That little puppy will do anything for me." The house was dark, with very little light coming from Lydia and Allison's candles. A door slammed downstairs, making the two girls jump and scream.

"What the Hell was that?" Lydia blurted out, unable to control the volume of her voice.

Allison slowly swallowed, "I think he's here."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) I realllllly hope you guys liked the first chapter! This is my VERY first fic so I hope this all goes well. I'll try to make this story interesting and post a new chapter every weekend. Have fun reading, I guess? By the way I may ramble a lot :/ kay bye


	2. One, Perfect Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a flashback of what happened at the graduation party :) i hope it's good!

_Everyone_ _was at Derek's loft, celebrating the pack's High School Graduation. Derek initially never wanted the party at his place but Lydia and Erica begged and begged him, until he finally gave in. It may have helped that they offered to plan and do everything. There was only one rule: Don't bother Derek._

_All in all, the party turned out pretty well, it sounded like a blast from Derek's bedroom. Derek was forced to make an appearance, so he was downstairs for the first fifteen minutes to do the congratulating and small-talk. Then he was free to sulk in his room for the rest of the night, praying to be left alone._

_He heard Erica and Boyd leave first, probably off to have sexy times at Erica's cabin. And that's what started the desire for everyone else to leave with their significant other; Allison with Scott, Lydia with Jackson, Isaac with his new girlfriend (Derek can't even remember her name, and he's not going to even try. She'll be gone in a week, just like all the others.) Danny with, well, himself, and even Sheriff Stilinski with Melissa McCall. Derek could only think to himself_ Thank God, they're all gone _._

 _But why could he hear another heart beat? Derek took his nose to the air and drew a deep breath in. Stiles._ Great. _Derek couldn't deal with normal Stiles anymore, let alone a drunken one. Who even brought the alcohol? Derek needs to get Stiles out of his house and back home before something stupid happens and before he does something he'll regret in the morning._

_Stiles was passed out on his couch, mumbling in his sleep. Why couldn't his dad just take him home? Derek crouched down next to the drunken boy, "Stiles, wake up." He was trying his best to be gentle with him and not make his temper rise._

_"Mmmmm, Derek. You smell good." Those words made Stiles smile as he continued to sleep._

_Derek ran a hand through his short black hair. Stiles looked so cute and innocent when he was sleepi-_ No, Derek. You can't be having these feelings. Just get the boy back to his home and go to bed. _Stiles rolled onto his side and curled up into himself. Derek exhaled, "Stiles. Get up. The party's over, you need to go home."_

_Stiles finally woke; he was startled and still slightly drunk. He sat up and looked at his surroundings and his eyes landed on Derek's. "Fuck. What time is it?"_

_"Time for you to go home." Derek stated. Stiles just looked up at him, dumbfounded. "It's 2 AM."_

_Stiles flopped back down on the couch, raising his arms to cover up his eyes. His brain was hurting from the sudden direct light and he was trying to make it stop._

_"Stiles." Derek said, less firm than he wanted it to be. Who could blame him, though? Stiles just looked so amazing with his shirt slightly up his torso, revealing three distinct moles across his pale white skin. His brown hair was a mess and sticking out every direction it could, and Derek wanted nothing more than to run his hands through it. Stiles looked so.... perfect._

_"Derek, can you just let me sleep?" Stiles pleaded. Yet, Stiles had something more than sleeping on his mind. Something he has been wanting to do for months, now. Ever since they killed Gerard and made Jackson and Danny pack. However, Stiles knew, well thought Derek was straight and would never want to do anything sexual to him. Not intentionally anyway. But something was different with Derek's voice. Normally it was strong and confident. Tonight he sounded unsure, weak... aroused? Was Derek aroused right now? Yeah right. Stiles sat up and looked a Derek, " Dude, are you okay?"_

_Derek took a seat next to Stiles, "I- yeah. I'm fine." Stiles saw right through that lie. But before he could say anything, Derek got up and ran, literally ran, to his room._ Keep your cool, Derek. Cold shower then bed.

_Derek stayed in that shower for hours. He knew that Stiles liked him, he definitely knew for a long time. Never did he think that he might like him back. Life was so much easier knowing the crush was just one sided. When it was just Stiles being a hormonal teenager, and it would've eventually fade away making his life easier again. But it's been two years since he figured it out. And it's not getting easier, because maybe he might like him back._

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

_After about another half hour, Derek came to the conclusion that it might be time to get out of the shower if his hands looked like shriveled up, old prunes. When he got out he wrapped a towel around his waist and went toward his bedroom. He was not surprised to find Stiles sitting on his bed. "What the fuck are you still doing here, Stiles?"_

_"Finally! It's about damn time you're out." Stiles yelled, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis. "It's been YEARS, Derek. I knew it took a long time for wolves to shower, but that was ridiculous. If you always take showers that long, I don't even want to see your water bill." Stiles took a breath and continued, “What were you doing in there? Not thinking of me, I hope." he shot Derek a wink and went back to playing Temple Run 2 on his IPhone. "And why don't you own a TV?"_

_Derek was so glad Stiles didn't have his hearing so he couldn't hear his rising heartbeat. “You didn't answer my question."_

_"Yep. And you didn't answer mine."_

_"Stiles, its 4 AM, shouldn't you be home now?"_

_"Shouldn't you be wearing some clothes?"  Derek growled under his breath soft, but loud enough that Stiles could hear him. "Fine, fine." There was a long, awkward silence before Stiles spoke again, "I can't think with you being all," he gestured to Derek's half naked body, "exposed."_

_Derek didn't say anything; he just went to grab a black shirt and black sweatpants. He could tell that Stiles was staring at him the whole time, taking note of his every move. "Stiles."_

_"Derek." Stiles said, mocking his tone._

_"Could you maybe, I don't know, turn the fuck around?"_

_“You want me to do that because..."  Why isn't Stiles' brain working?_

_Derek is about to scream, "So I can get dressed."_

_"Why?"_

_"Really, Stiles? Because you wanted me to. Now turn the fuck around."_

_"Yep. Yeah, I'm going to do that, now. This is me, turning around. Look I'm turned around."_

_Quickly, Derek got dress and moved into his bedroom door way. He searched Stiles' face trying to catch his gaze. When he did, he spoke," Talk."_

_"About what?"_

_Derek was starting to get impatient, "You know exactly what about."_

_"Yeah, I know. You don't have to be such a sourwolf all the time." Stiles joked and he shot Derek a smile._

_Derek's heart started to pump faster, he was no longer angry. He just loved that Stiles called him sourwolf. "Please, Stiles. Just Talk."_

_"You don't have to make such a big deal about this. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."_

_Defensively Derek crossed his arms, “Why wouldn't I be okay?"_

_"I don't know." Stiles admitted, “You seemed pretty freaked when you woke me up earlier."_

_"Maybe that was because there was a drunken teenage boy passed out on my couch."_

_"Well then that explains that part."  He started, waiting for Derek to calm down before speaking again, “But then why did you run off and take a shower for, like, 6 years?"_

_Derek shifted all of his weight onto his left foot and leaned against the doorframe. He wasn't sure how to answer Stiles' question, “Can I not run in my own home? And take a shower as long as I please? Can I not do these things? Jesbus, Stiles." Derek started to pace around his room, angry that he was suddenly getting interrogated in his own home._

_Stiles looked down at his hands and started to pick the dirt out from underneath his nails, “I’m sorry, man. I didn't mean to get you so upset." Derek stopped in his original setting, with his back to Stiles. Stiles walked up to him and put a quick hand on his shoulder while he spoke, " I’m really sorry, Derek. See you later."  And with that, Stiles walked past Derek and almost out of his reach._

_Before he could get too far down the hallway, Derek spoke, “Stiles, wait-"_

_Stiles stopped walking and turned to Derek, "What do you want, Derek."_

_"Honest answer?"_

_"Yeah. Of course."_

_"Right now." Derek reached out and grabbed Stiles' forearm, “You."_

_Stiles lost his balance for a little bit making Derek grab onto him tighter, "What?"_

_"I need you, Stiles." Derek repeated taking another step closer to Stiles._

_Stiles just stood there for a few minutes before speaking again, “This can't be happening. I'm dreaming. That's it. A dream and I'm going to wake up in my bed really soon. And this never happened."_

_Derek's expression on his face went from confidence, then to confusion, and settled on pain. He let go of Stiles' arm and took a few steps back, “I’ve been reading this all wrong, haven't I?" He walked to his bed running a hand through his hair. "I'm so stupid. Shit, I'm sorry, Stiles."_

_Stiles went after Derek, "No. Nononononono. Don't be sorry. I've been putting off the correct signals, and you have definitely have been reading them right. A child could read th-" Derek shut Stiles up with a kiss. The kiss was fierce and hungered for, all new and exciting, but Derek was the one to pull away. "Wh- what are you doing? Why are you stopping?"_

_"I shouldn't have done that." Derek took a step back, only to flop down on his bed. “This can't..."_

_Stiles sat down next to him, "This can't what?"_

_Looking into Stiles eyes, Derek spoke, only his words were barely audible through his heavy breathing, "This."  Derek leaned closer, "Can't" even closer now, his lips barely brushing against Stiles'. Before Derek could finish his sentence, Stiles was the one to shut him up with a kiss. And Derek let him._

_The kiss was powerful and Derek never felt more connected to Stiles before. His tongue raked the inside of Stiles' teeth searching for what made him moan._

_Stiles tugged at Derek's hair. Then his tongue explored the inside of his mouth. Derek's hands left Stiles' face and went down his torso to the hem of his shirt. Derek's fingers slipped under his shirt, breaking their kiss for a moment, and then ripping the cloth from Stiles' body. Trying to mimic Derek's movements, Stiles epically failed at taking Derek's shirt off, causing them both to laugh and eventually making Derek do it._

_Derek pushed Stiles onto his back and slowly dragged his tongue up his stomach, dropping little kissed every now and then on a mole he would find. Then he went back up to Stiles' face and bit and tugged on his bottom lip, and went in for a sloppy, opened mouthed kiss. After the kiss was over, Derek laid on his back next to Stiles, "Do you want this?" Derek asked as he untied his sweatpants._

_"Are you serious?" Stiles spurt out, “Duh, like, ever since I met you." Derek gave Stiles a smug look watching him fumble with his pants, “Sorry, I took some of my Adderall while you were in the shower."_

_Derek smiled and pulled Stiles in for another kiss, "You're my Adderall addict."_

_Stiles couldn't hold his huge grin back, " Maybe, but you're my Sourwolf."  They both finished taking their pants off and once all clothing was removed from their bodies, Derek rolled back onto Stiles and grabbed his cock while he went in for another kiss. Derek's grip was tight as he started to move his hand up and down Stiles' shaft slowly, setting a steady rhythm making Stiles moan into Derek's mouth._

_Next thing Stiles knew, Derek was taking the head of his cock into his mouth and swallowing it, then taking it out, then swallowing it again. The motion was repeated endlessly until Stiles screamed out, "OH, SHIT. DEREK. IM GOING T-" was all he could get out before his body tensed up and he shot his load into Derek's mouth. Derek swallowed every bit and licked Stiles' cock clean. He went back up to Stiles face and he could smell the pleasure mixed with arousal coming from him. The eye contact between the two was fulfilling and damn, Derek could get lost in his eyes. The moment was perfect and he never felt more relaxed and comfortable with someone like this before. Even though all he did was give him a fantastic blow job, what he felt was pure bliss. "What?"_

_"Nothing, I just really want to kiss you right now."  Derek exhaled._

_Stiles was taken aback, not normally having to deal with a boy wanting to kiss him. Let alone Derek, “So go ahead and do it then."_

_Derek smiled and slowly kissed him, taking in every taste of the beauty beneath him. Love and meaning was still there and Derek could feel it. He rolled over and laid chest to back behind Stiles. They fell asleep like that, neither of them waking once during the night._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter wasn't too bad. it probs could've been better :/ sorry


	3. Time is Slipping Through Their Grasps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen with the Midnight Man and Derek and Stiles have a serious talk.

It was only an hour and a half into the game. Lydia and Allison were walking around the upper floor of Lydia's house, trying to avoid the man at all costs. Allison turned the corner to Lydia's bedroom, "Hey Lydia, does it feel colder in here to you?"

The door slammed shut behind Allison, leaving the girls separated. The gust of wind caused Allison's candle blow out, making the room pitch black. "Allison?" Lydia screamed, "Hey are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, but" Allison brought her voice down to a whisper, "I think he's in here."

Lydia went for the door handle and pulled away cradling her burned hand to her chest, "Allison, the door handle is really hot." After her hand healed, she went shoulder first into the wooden door. The door still wouldn't budge, "Shit. It won’t open."

Allison frantically tried to relight her candle with the lighter in her pocket, she would get sparks only and they wouldn't last long enough for wick to catch fire. "Lydia, my candle is out."  
  
"Then light it back up then." Lydia answered between shoving at the door.

"My lighter won’t work." Allison exhaled and her breath lingered in the air, as the temperature dropped further. "I can't find the salt bag."

Lydia's gaze dropped to the floor. At the base of the door, Lydia found Allison's bag broken and spilled along the floor. She rest her head on the door, "That's probably because it's out here."

Allison leaned against the door frame and sat crisscrossed at the base, Tears were racing down her face. Beams of moon light were coming out of Lydia's half opened curtains, allowing Allison to see the start of the Midnight Man's black figure. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands and calmly spoke to her friend, "Tell Scott I love him, okay?"

Tears were forming in Lydia's eyes, "Tell him yourself."

Allison took a deep breath in to try and keep her voice calm and steady, "He's here, Lyd."

"No. Nononononono." Lydia resumed ramming into her door.

Allison's head bobbed along with Lydia's rhythm. The figure was becoming darker and more detailed. "It's no use, Lydia. It won’t open." coming to the realization that she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. No one could do anything to save her, not even her werewolf best friend.

Lydia was still trying to open the door, transforming into her Beta form for more power, "What's the use of being a fucking werewolf, if can't break down a God damned wooden door?"

"Lydia, it's okay." Even when she was the one in trouble, Allison was still comforting others.

She stopped pounding on the door and collapsed to her knees, "It's not okay, Allison. I can't do anything to save you. My best friend is going to-" Lydia couldn't fight back her tears any longer, "I'm so sorry, Allison."

Allison's tears resumed their spot in her eyes, “Don’t be sorry, Lyd. You can't do anything, no one can."

"But I should be able to. I need to do mo-"

"SHUT UP, LYDIA." Allison snapped. "Just listen to me. There was _nothing_ you could've done. Remember to tell Scott what I said. Then tell Stiles that he needs to calm the fuck down sometimes and Erica and Boyd need to find a damn room before they start groping each other. Tell my parents that they need to get over the fact that Scott is a werewolf and just have them be there for each other. Tell Derek to take it easy on Isaac, he is trying the best he can, and then tell him that the sexual tension between him and Stiles is fucking distracting and they need to figure that shit out. And Lydia,"

"Yeah."

"Remember that you are the best friend that someone could have and I love you."

Lydia let a small laugh out, "I love you, too. I'll tell them everything, I promise. And you're the only reason I'm such a good friend."

The Midnight Man was fully formed and out for blood. Allison stood up and walked toward him; she has said her good byes and has nothing to lose. Her mind was clear and she definitely wasn't going to go down without a fight. "Come at me, Mother Fucker."

Allison and the Midnight Man ran for each other, but Allison ended on the ground after the man went through her, grabbing her heart as he left. One final scream left Allison's mouth before she choked on her own blood. The room was suddenly silent and Lydia whipped her tears from her skin, "Allison." The door slowly creaked open, allowing Lydia to walk in. "Allison, are you-" Lydia's hand reached her mouth when she saw Allison's lifeless body. Her friend was dead on her bedroom floor and all she could do is scream. Allison was in a pool of her own blood by now, a hole in her chest where her heart should be. The light from Lydia's candle illuminated Allison's face, making it look worse than it is. Lydia's vision was beginning to blur and her inner wolf was outraged at the loss of a pack member, of family. Her Beta form is taking over, growling and furious as she left her room and went to the hallway. Suddenly absorbed by blackness. The wolf went back in and Lydia looked down at her once burning candle. He's here.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Stiles and Derek have been sitting in silence for a few minutes now; neither of them knew how to start. Derek didn't want to bring up that night again, so he wasn't going to be the one to start.

"I'm just going to come out and say this," Stiles started, repositioning himself so that he was facing Derek. "What happened the last time we were togeth-"

"Can't happen again." Derek finished for him.

Stiles eyebrows furrowed together, "What? That's wasn't what I was going to say. Wait- Why?"

"What do you mean 'why', Stiles?" Derek trudged over to his hamper and threw in his towel. "It can't happen again because you're too young."

Stiles stood up to follow Derek around his room, "I'm 18 now, Derek. Almost 19 and I just graduated High School. I am _not_ too young."

Derek went to his dresser and put on his Axe deodorant, "Okay, maybe you're not too young but you're a human and I'm an Alpha werewolf. Those can't be to-"

"Don't even start that." Stiles was still following him and his voice was starting to raise, "Allison is a human and Scott's a werewolf. They made it work, pretty well I might add."

Derek turned to Stiles; meeting his eyes, "Shhh..." he motioned to his ears then pointed to downstairs. "Fine. But it still can't happen. This," he gestured to the two of them. "Can’t happen."

"Give me one good reason, Derek. Just one reason why you don't want to be with me, and I'll drop it."

He took a deep breath in and whispered to Stiles, "The pack won’t take me seriously if they think we are together." He went back to his bed and plopped down.

Stiles took a seat next to him, "They worship the ground you walk on. What makes you think they won’t take you seriously?"

Suddenly Derek's hands were the most interesting thing in the world, "They just won’t okay?"

Then Stiles finally understood why he didn't want to tell anyone, "You haven't told anyone you're gay before, have you?" Derek just looked up at Stiles and he grabbed his hand, "It's okay. We can keep it a secret if you want to."

Derek squeezed Stiles' hand, "I can't do that to you. I can't let you do that for me, because I'm too scared to come out of the closet."

Stiles knelt down in front of Derek, forcing him to bring is attention away from his hands, "Hey. I offered to do this. It was my idea and if you want to go public," Stiles went closer to him barely inches away, "we can cross that bridge when we get there. Cliché, I know."

"Stiles, it wouldn't be fair to you if I-"

Stiles closed the distance between them. He's getting pretty good at shutting Derek up with kisses. "We're doing this." And Derek was sold. Even though he still wasn't comfortable with keeping him and Stiles' relationship a secret, Derek was glad they talked. He was going to have fun. Maybe, eventually, Derek might feel comfortable with coming out of the closet. But only if it meant Stiles was right there waiting for him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) thank you to everyone who has kept reading this. I personally think this was a fun chapter to write, and about Allison? Sorry, not sorry.


	4. There's Always a Time and a Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia doesn't finish the game right and Stile and Derek learn new thing about each other.

The darkness was beginning to swallow Lydia with only 33 minutes left of the current Hell she was in. She needed to get her candle lit again or what happened to Allison was going to happen to her. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her red and black lighter she bought from the gas station, and with one flick the flame grew from the top, lighting the candle and bringing light to the dark. The cold rush was gone, replaced by heat and Lydia was safe. For now, anyway. She still needed to walk around the house and wait for the game to end. Then she can get the fuck out of there.

Lydia walked into her kitchen, thinking that if she could just grab a knife, she might have a chance against.... a shadow. What the Hell was she thinking? Obviously her brain isn't working and her 170 I.Q. was not showing. _Think, Lydia. Think._ Moving her toward her living room, the temperature dropped. "Fuck this." Lydia threw her hands in the air as surrender, "I am so done with this dumb ass game. You win." She ran out of her house and to her car.

Once inside her expensive, new car, she put the keys in the ignition and started the engine. The radio's blue/green lights flashed the time: 3:21 AM. "Shit." A loud crash came from the inside of her house and the Midnight Man appeared in her door way, dramatically stepping out of her house. _I couldn't wait twelve more FUCKING minutes._ She put her car in reverse and drove to Derek's loft.

She got there around 4 AM and ran straight inside. Scott and Isaac were sitting on the couch watching reruns of The Walking Dead on Derek's new T.V. they forced him to buy. Erica was sitting on Boyd's lap in the recliner next to the couch. Danny and Jackson were watching their old lacrosse plays from Junior year. Jackson's gaze went from the laptop screen to distraught Lydia covered in Allison's blood. He rushed to her side, "Lydia? What. What happened?"

"Oh hey, guys. Having a fun night?" Then Lydia was on the ground, her head cradled in Jackson's lap.

Erica and Jackson were by her side the whole time before her whole body hit the ground. "DEREK!"

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Stiles and Derek were laying on the bed talking into depths about their lives, learning as much as they can about each other with the few minutes they have alone. Derek learned that Stiles had the biggest crush on Lydia until the fourth grade, the same year Danny moved to Beacon Hills and he figured out that he liked guys. He learned that Stiles and Danny were together from 7th to 8th grade, and the reason they broke up was because Danny wanted to be "a free man" going into high school.

Stiles was crushed all summer, and up to the first day of Freshman year when he saw Lydia walk up the side walk with her mini-skirt, brand new push-up bra, and perfect strawberry-blond hair complete with tight curls, all of which was accompanied by stiletto heals and a Prada bag, caused Stiles to forget about Danny and focus all of his energy into winning Lydia over. It worked for a year, or in other words, until Scott was bitten by Peter forcing them to interact with Derek. And Stiles was never going to admit that he loved every bit of it, he didn't have to though- Derek already heard through that lie.

Derek told stories about his past life, mostly of his family. How his dad would teach him how to use his wolf skills for the tracking and the hunting, where his mom would teach him how to heal others and play nice with his sisters. On full moons, his dad would lead their whole family out into the woods and run for hours, chasing each other, hunting down little animals but Cora and Laura convincing them to let them go.Over all, those nights where the rare times that his family were all together, happy.

Over time the runs became shorter and shorter, until they eventually just stopped. Laura and Derek grew up and started high school. So trying to have a normal life apparently meant ditching their family hours on end to see their friends or current love interest.

Then when the Argents moved back to town, Kate took over the role of Derek's love interest. Things were hot and heavy for weeks, making Derek skip more family dinners and full moon runs, training with his parents, spending time with his little sister, and less and less appearances at pack meetings. He told Stiles about how the day of the fire started off like any other day: he went to school, learned useless stuff about boring things, he went to meet Kate at their spot in the woods. He waited for hours before he decided to go home, actually looking forward to the Friday night pack meeting, to seeing Cora there because she was finally old enough to join them.

But that never happened. He never got to see the smile on his little sister's face as he walked through the front door or get a hug from his mom and a "How was school? Learn anything fun?" No. He got a house full of flames and the stench of burning flesh. He got firetrucks and ambulances and red and blue flashing police lights. The sight of his Uncle Peter in the back of an ambulance, half of his face burned to a crisp. All he remembers is the picture of Laura crying and a certain police officer telling him everything would be alright, him knowing that it wont.

Derek's body tensed as his senses were put on high alert, he raised his nose to the air and took a deep breath in, "Someone's here." He took another breath, then visibly relaxing, "It's just Lydia." His eyebrows furrowed together, "And Allison."

Stiles rolled on top of him and went in for a kiss. Derek smiled and kissed him back, "It makes sense."

Derek face turned to wonder as he looked at the pale boy on top of him, "Of course it does."

All Derek could do is smile at Stiles, he snuggled closer to him and whispered, "So much for a guy's night." Stiles let out a small huff Derek could only categorize as a laugh. He dug his forehead deeper into the nook of Stiles' neck. He tensed as he heard the cry of help coming from his beta's mouth downstairs.

"What the hell was that?" Stiles panicked as he and Derek sprang from the bed.

Derek was half way out of the door before he answered, "Erica. Somethings wrong." Stiles was already behind him as they went for the steps.

When they reached the main room in the loft, everyone was in a big crowd around Lydia. Derek pushed through and knelt down beside his injured beta, taking Jackson's spot. "Someone want to tell me what the hell happened here?"

The pack was speechless for several minutes, before Scott gathered the courage to speak for everyone, "Uh, we- we don't know. She came in here and just collapsed."

Erica looked down at Lydia then back up to Derek, here eyes were wide with horror, "The Midnight Man."

"The what?!" Derek looked at Erica like she was crazy, "The Midnight Man? Scott," he turned to face his beta who was looking at the door like he thought it was going to magically combust if he took his gaze off of it for a split second. " I thought you said that was just some kid game you found on the Internet. And it couldn't hurt anybody."

"It is. It's not supposed to be real. It wasn't going to," Scott stopped mid-sentence trying to gather his words, "Erica, Lydia, and Allison, they were going to be safe."

Derek's head shot up at the mention of Allison. He looked around the room trying to find her, smell her out. But it would always lead back to Lydia. "Where is Allison?"

Isaac was the one to speak, but only in a whisper, "She's not here."

"What do you mean she isn't here?" he yelled, "I can smell her."

Stiles turned to Scott and looked around the room then to all the blood on Lydia, "Derek."

"What Stiles?" Derek exploded.

"Her hands."

"What-" he looked down at her hands and took a deeper breath, smelling that most of the blood wasn't Lydia's. How could his pack have missed this? "Isaac." Derek looked to Isaac then flicked his eyes over to Scott. Isaac understood the message and pinned Scott's arms behind his back.

The raged beta turned to Isaac, trying to break free of his death grip. "Isaac. Man. What are you doing?" Scott still struggled against him, resulting to begging, "Isaac, please, let go of me." He turned to Derek, "Tell him to let go. What aren't you telling me?"

Derek placed Lydia's head back onto Jackson's lap and walked over to Scott, "It's Allison. The blood, it's Allison's."

Outraged, Scott managed to break free, only to fall down on the couch, "WHAT?! How? But there is so much blood. Any human with that amount missing wouldn't-"

Stiles laid a hand on his friend's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, "Wouldn't survive." Silently, Scott's face filled with tears as he hugged Stiles. "But we'll get the son of a bitch that did it, okay?"

Isaac sat on the other side of the couch taking over for Stiles. They both sat in silence while the rest of the pack moved Lydia to Derek's bed upstairs, then went to clean the blood from the wooden floors. Except for Jackson.

"What are we going to do, Derek?" Boyd asked.

"Right now? No one is leaving. Not even you, Danny." He took turns looking at his beta's, making eye contact with each of them, "Find a place to sleep and we'll talk more in the morning."

"Boyd. You and Erica can have my bed, I'll stay out here with Scott." Isaac offered. Scott was in the shock and non-responsive stage of grief. All wolves are different when it come to grieving, some lash out, some border on suicide, most become unresponsive. But all act together at the loss of a pack member. They don't have time to deal with it right now, first they need to figure out what's wrong with Lydia and how to stop whatever happened to Allison from happening to someone else.

"Yeah, thanks, Isaac. We wont do anything bad. Promise." Erica winked at him, grabbing Boyd's hand and leading him to the room.

Danny found his spot in the recliner and immediately fell asleep. Scott and Isaac were on the couch and that meant Derek and Stiles had the floor.

Derek just lost a pack member and he was to scared to tell the truth about the one he loved, so he couldn't lay next to Stiles when he needed him the most. He searched around the room, taking one last look at his surroundings. His eyes fell on Stiles, who was already looking back at him. Just his smile made Derek all jittery inside. Butterflies aren't even close to describing his stomach.

"Hi." Stiles whispered, low enough that only Derek could hear.

Derek smiled and whispered back, "Hi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you liked this chapter! Thank you to everyone who read, bookmarked, and kudosed! It means so much to me when that happens! :)


	5. Death Brings Us All Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia tells the group what Allison told her, then the wolves mourn.

Derek's room was dark with little lighting, it was 10 AM and Lydia startled awake. She rolled over to see Jackson fast asleep next to her. "Jackson."

Jackson sat straight up, "What."

Waiting until he calmed down to speak again, "Why am I in Derek's bed?"

He crawled over to her and took her hand, "Do you remember what happened last night?"

Lydia closed her eyes and breathed in and out deeply trying to remember. Once she regained herself she spoke, "Yeah. I remember everything." Lydia's eyes widened as she looked over at Jackson. "Allison. Jackson, Allison. She's. She's-"

Jackson crawled over to her and wrapped her tightly in his arms, "We know. Your hands were covered with her blood." Not being able to hold it anymore, Lydia cried until she was out of tears. Jackson held her the whole time, stroking her hair and not saying a word.

"My best friend is dead. She's gone. I can never speak to her again."

"Shh... It's okay. Just let it all out."

Lydia pried herself from Jackson's bear hug, "No. I have something to tell Scott. Things everyone needs to know." Lydia wiped her eyes, "Things Allison told me."

"I understand." Jackson said taking her hand, "Let's go."

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Jackson and Lydia made their way down Derek's winding staircase. The pack was in the kitchen making breakfast, well, attempting. Isaac was burning toast, Derek was spilling milk, Danny was just failing to make eggs altogether, and Stiles was trying to cut an orange slices without cutting his hand open.

This scene made Lydia laugh, out loud, which brought all of the attention to her. Erica was the first one to Lydia; her arms open wide for a hug.

Her hug was warm and loving, "Hey. How did you sleep?"

"I've had better nights, thanks. But," Lydia broke free from another hug and announced to the room, "I need to talk to Scott."

Scott was still on the couch in the same position he was in last night, or six hours ago. Lydia walked to where Scott was sitting and sat down next to him. _"Scott, Allison wanted me to tell yo-"_

_"Allison's dead."_

_"I know. She wanted me to tell you something like-"_

_"You killed her."_

_Lydia blinked a few times, how could he blame her? "What?"_

_Scott turned to her, his eyes emotionless. "You killed my only girlfriend, Lydia."_

_"Scott, I didn't kill Allison." Tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, and she had a feeling if she let into them, they would never stop._

"I know you didn't, Lyd." Everyone was looking at her again. "Are you okay?"

"Why aren't you still yelling at me for killing Allison?" Scott just stared blankly at her, "Did you not just blame me for killing her?"

"No I didn't." Scott replied, shaking his head.

"Okay." Lydia is on the verge of freaking the fuck out. Why did she just imagine Scott saying those things? Was it just her subconscious coming through? "What's happening to me?"

Derek strode over and sat on the last open spot on the couch. "Nothing is wrong with you. You just went through some bad shit and your brain is trying to process it all. It's possible that this is how your wolf deals with losing pack. You'll be fine. Don't worry."

Lydia resorted to taking deep breaths, good thing they seem to be calming her down. "Allison wanted me to tell you that she loved you so much and you and her dad need to find clarity. Most importantly, she wants you to move on. Find love again and be happy."

Scott could do anything but nod his head and cry.

After giving Scott a hug, she walked over to Erica and Boyd who were sitting in the recliner. Before she talked, she let out a huff of a laugh, "She wants you two to find a room before you start 'choking each other with your tongues.'" Erica giggled to herself, remembering the time Allison first said that to them.

Taking note of Erica's laughter turning to tears, he spoke for the couple, "We will."

Now it was Stiles' turn. He was now yelling at the oranges because they wouldn't cut the way he wanted them to. She walked over to him, placing a hand on the one that was holding the knife. "She wants you to calm the fuck down, and take deep breaths." Before leaving, she pulled him in for a hug.

Making her way over to Danny who was scraping egg remains into the trash can. "And you can't be a lonely loner all the time, okay?" Danny just answered with a nod of his head.

She went to Isaac, "And you can't keep bringing some random girl you find interesting that week, and bring her to meet the pack." Isaac rubbed the back of his neck and blushed.

"Derek. She wanted me to tell you a lot of things, so can we talk somewhere?"

"Yeah. Okay." He led them to the end of his driveway, trying to get out of the pack's super hearing. Lydia turned on her car's radio for good measure.

"You need to take it easy on Isaac. He has been through so much bad shit, too. Okay? Be his Alpha, but be his friend too. Maybe even get to being his brother, if you're not already there."

"I'll try. No, I will. I'll be better." Derek turned around to head back to the loft. Lydia grabbed his forearm, signaling him to stop.

"I'm not finished yet." Derek turned to his beta. "This is going to be really weird to say, however, Allison asked me to say it, so I will."

"Just tell me, Lydia."

She didn't know how else to say it, so she blurted it out, "The sexual tension between you and Stiles is fucking distracting and you guys need to sit down and talk for fuck's sake. You guys love each other, Allison and I both knew it. Hell, the whole pack knows it because we can smell the desperation radiating off of you two whenever one of you does something stupid, that's apparently so fucking attractive. And we all know what happened after our graduation party."

Derek took a step back, "I- I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't you play dumb with me, Derek Hale. The thing about is wolves is that we have these cool... gifts. We can smell who has come in contact with someone, oh, and _where_ they came in contact. And then, my favorite, telling when someone is lying. So don't you dare lie to me, Derek. Not right now."

He went closer to Lydia, "You can't tell anyone. Not yet."

"Derek. Who am I going to tell? Everyone already knows! Just go public with it, we'll still love you. You're our Alpha, our family. We'll follow you anywhere and be behind you on anything." Lydia turned Derek around and placed a little encouraging pat on his butt before giving him a push toward the loft. "Now. Go get your little human."

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Derek's talk with Lydia gave him a new found confidence and he knew that once he stepped foot through his door he was going to do something very, very stupid. He and Lydia reached the front door and went inside, Lydia walked over to Jackson and gave him a kiss on the cheek before wrapping her arms around him. Derek took off towards the kitchen to find Stiles still working on those damn oranges.

His heart was beating into his throat, faster and faster with every step his took closer to Stiles. When he reached him, he grabbed the knife out of the frantic boy's hands and put it aside a couple of feet away from them on the counter. Stiles turned to face Derek, "Uh... What are you doing? I was just about to get the orange to give up and talk!"

Derek grabbed Stiles' waist and brought him in close to his body, "You're my Adderall addict." He moved his hands to the boy's face and dove in for the kiss. Stiles was a little surprised but then relaxed into his lover's lips, enjoying the feeling of Derek's lips against his for a little longer before kissing him back. This kiss was perfection, all of the unsaid feelings wrapped up into slim contact. It was powerful and tender at the same time, causing the human and the wolf go into their own world as the kiss continued.

Erica cleared her throat, "And Allison wanted us to get a room?"

Stiles and Derek broke there kiss and let out a small laugh, "So I guess we're at that bridge now?"

Derek leaned in and kissed him softly before answering, "Ohh... We are wayyy past it."

Stiles whispered in Derek's ear before turning to the group, "And you're my sourwolf."

Danny shot up from his chair in the kitchen, his eyes wide with amusement, "I knew you two were diggin' each other! My gay-dar was going crazy!" The pack laughed, and for the rest of the day, they were happy. Forgetting about the death of their friend. Everyone was focused on the forming relationship and how it came to be that even Scott was congratulating the new couple.

Later that night, the pack was allowed to go back to their designated homes to sleep in their own beds. Only after they mourned Allison properly. And that meant getting the body.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Derek, Lydia, Scott, and Isaac went to collect Allison's body from Lydia's bedroom. Lydia leads them up her steps and through her door, to the crime scene. When they got there, Lydia could tell that Scott was slowly falling apart. Allison's face was paler than yesterday and her body thinner than ever. The hole in her chest was attracting flies and the blood surrounding, seeped into the carpet; the room smelt of death.

The men held Allison's body while Lydia wrapped her in a bed sheet. With Allison covered, Scott carried her to the cars and laid her gently into Lydia's car. Lydia then went back upstairs to grab overnight clothes before leaving. Isaac and Scott already drove off, leaving Derek for an uncomfortable ride home.

As they followed the road to the loft, Derek allowed his mind to wonder. His thoughts never settled on anything in particular, they mostly consisted of Allison and how he brought her into this mess and should have kicked her out months ago. He knew if he let humans into the pack, it would just end in fatalities. He then thought of Stiles. Every moment he's involved with him, he risks death. He can't let Stiles die. He won't. Stiles means to much to him, and if keeping him in the pack means risking his life then-

Derek's train of thought was cut short by a scream coming from Lydia's mouth. "What? What's wrong?" he shouted at her, not knowing how to react.

"Please tell me that this is another hallucination and Scott and Isaac _aren't_ making out in Isaac's backseat right now." Derek looked to where Lydia was pointing, and there they were. Going at it like there's no time left in the world. "Not that I'm not happy for them, but OMG why?"

Derek only chuckled, rubbing soothing circles on his frantic beta's arm before getting out of the car, "Looks like it wasn't just Stiles and I holding something back." He made sure to make as much noise as possible; slamming the door and shuffling his feet to Isaac's car. The two wolves turned around mortified, only now just hearing their Alpha's presence.

Scott scrambled out of the car, Isaac doing the same, "This isn't what it looks like." Isaac breathed out.

Lydia was out of the car and over to Scott within ten seconds, "Not that I'm not happy for you two, let's get that straight, because I totally am. But your very serious girlfriend just _died,_ Scott. And you're already having a mac-session in a back seat of a car with a guy?" She eyed the two, settling on Scott, "You need time to mourn properly. More than a day. So, show some damn respect for the dead." Scott and Isaac stood there, dumfounded as they watched Lydia walk away. "Congrats on your love, assholes!"

Derek looked at them, slapping an open palm on Scott's shoulder, "Maybe we should get Allison out of the car." The stunned wolves nodded in unison, neither of them saying a word as they carried Allison's body to the clearing in the woods.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

The pack was waiting for them when they arrived. A freshly dug hole was in the ground beside a line of graves. When most of the Hale pack died in the fire, Derek and Laura chose to make this clearing ground for only Hale pack. So when Laura died, Derek buried her out here, next to his mother. And to Derek, it made sense to put Allison with them.

Each of the wolves said a few words before the men started to fling dirt into the grave. By the time they were done, the sun was behind the trees, bringing black to the sky and allowing to moon to rise. Derek could tell his pack was ready to start the run, he gave the cue to his betas by shifting to his alpha form and running off into the woods. The rest followed, leaving Stiles alone.

Stiles walked to the freshly packed mound sitting down to start his own process for grieving. It was a while before he had the courage to talk and when he did, he spoke only in a whisper. "You left me alone, Allison. We were supposed to be a team. Remember? The only humans in a pack of werewolves. Now it's just me." Stiles didn't even notice he was crying until he felt water drops fall to his hands. "I was going to tell you about Derek and I, then we could've talked about how great wolf sex is." His tears continued to fall, "But who am I going to talk to now? You left us all, Allison. For what? A stupid fucking child's game? You better have put up a fight." Stiles was yelling now, but he had one last thing to say before he left. "You should've fought harder, you should've won." He wiped his tears with the back of his hand, "Good bye, Allison." And with that, he was gone. Walking back to his jeep. Deep within the woods, Stiles could hear the pained howl pierce the night air. It broke his heart even more. But it was beautiful.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of hope you guys cried during this one.... does that make me a bad person? I tried really hard to make this chapter emotional, but I kind of suck at writing things so.... yeah. And I'm really trying to upload twice a week until I'm caught up with what's in my notebook, then the uploads might be longer apart. But anyway... toodallo
> 
> If you want to find me on tumblr to talk about anything, you can. Please? I'm lonely. :( No? OK.  
> (my url is from-planet-gallifrey ;) )


	6. Tacos- the Truth Food.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Isaac tell Lydia about their relationship, three days later the Midnight Man shows up at a classmate's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the chapter title... I told my brother he could name it because I couldn't think of anything, literally. :/

Once Lydia and the pack were done, it took them less than ten minutes to reach Stiles and the cars. Stiles was waiting for Derek in his jeep when they arrived. Derek climbed in after telling everyone to meet back at the loft, then the two drove off.

Lydia went over to Jackson handing him her keys, "Take Danny back and I'll catch a ride with Scott and Isaac." Jackson reluctantly took them from her hands. "Don't worry, Jackson. I’ll be fine." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and climbed in the car with Danny.

The night was quiet with a slight warm breeze, allowing Lydia to slip into the back of Isaac's car. She slammed the door breaking the silence and startling Scott awake in the passenger seat. Isaac tensed his shoulders, preparing for when Lydia will attack. But she never did. Instead of bringing her claws out, she calmly placed a hand on him. "I'm not going to kill you, by the way."

Scott grabbed Isaac's hand and shot him a warm smile. You could see Isaac relax at his touch, Scott was the only one who could ever get through to him. "I hope not."

And with that, Lydia slumped back into the seat, "So." she started crossing her arms. "When did all of this happen?"

Isaac and Scott eyed each other, "Well, after the bus broke down and we had to stay the night at that lame-ass hotel, you know. Before the big cross country meet?" Scott stopped and waited for Lydia to catch up. She nodded her head, so he continued, "Isaac, Stiles, Boyd, and I shared a room. And sometime during the night Stiles left, I have no idea where, though. He never told me."

"Oh. He went to Allison and I's room to see if I was okay. Then we did a bunch of research on the Alpha Pack, mostly about Deucalion." Lydia informed him, "That's where we figured out how to stop them."

"That makes more sense than me thinking he fell asleep in the lobby." Isaac said.

Scott resumed his train of thought, "The lobby?" Isaac just shrugged, sinking into his seat. "But then Boyd went to check on Danny, and I guess he just passed out there."

"Then you two were left alone." Lydia concluded.

'Yeah. Then Scott and I talked all night." Isaac added looking over at Scott. "I thanked him for all his help with my transition into being a wolf. Well, one thing led to another, and I kissed him."

" _You_ kissed _him?_ "

Scott squeezed Isaac's hand, "And I kissed him back. Then we had to hide it from you guys because we knew you wouldn't understand. With everything dealing with Allison. But when this happened, Allison and I were broken up. She was no longer my interest."

"I understand," Lydia consoled. "You know everyone is going to find out sooner or later. And they aren't going to care."

"It doesn't matter," Scott started the car and shifted it out of park, "They'll find out whenever they want to."

Isaac pulled his seatbelt on then grabbed Scott's hand again, "Until then, we can enjoy our little secret." He turned to Lydia, "And if you tell anyone, you or Derek, I might do... something.. Uh. Bad."

Lydia could see right through his lie. She knew that that innocent face and those perfect curls couldn't do anything to her or his alpha. But she let him have this one, "Fine, I promise I won't tell anyone your little 'secret,' Romeo."

The rest of the car ride was silent, but no one seemed to mind.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

** Three days later- the pack is up to date about the Midnight Man. **

 

12:31 AM

The house was silent and dark since the lights went out. The twins' breaker box was shot to pieces and up in smoke with no way of fixing it. Ethan snuck out of his room from the top floor of their mansion and followed his hallway to the main staircase. The skylight was letting the moon sink in to their home, creating the only way Ethan could see the stairs. He carefully went down the stairs to the second floor, sneaking through the hallway not trying to make any noise. His brother's room was in the East Wing and as he closed in on the slightly cracked, open door. His room was dark, like the rest of the house. Ethan walked into his brother's room making his door creak loudly. "Aiden. The power went out."

Ethan and Aiden were twins in the pack's graduating class from last month. They were great students; on the honor roll, never got into trouble, and always played by the rules. When they moved to Beacon Hills in the middle of freshman year, Danny and Ethan hit it off becoming really great "friends."

Then maybe about two months into their first semester of sophomore year, Aiden began to fall behind in classes, causing his grades to drop. Their parent’s solution- a tutor. A straight A student with perfect attendance and strawberry-blond curls, accompanied by a mini-skirt and high heels. Lydia Martin. Things started off as tutoring, however, when Jackson broke her heart and went crazy with being the Kanima and Matt's bitch, Lydia needed some comfort. Lots and lots of comfort about four times a week. Sadly, for Aiden, Jackson decided to get his shit together and win Lydia back. Which he successfully did.

"Aiden."

Aiden stirred in his bed, slowly rising from sleep into a sitting position; Aiden could only describe this motion as a Zombie coming out of a grave. He rubbed his eyes, then looked at his twin, "Then turn it back on, you know how."

Ethan sat down on the end of Aiden's bed, "I would, but the breaker is... well. Broke."

"What do you mean 'broke?'" Aiden was wide awake now.

"Like," Ethan moved his hands as if a small ball just exploded, even adding the sound effects.

Aiden rubbed his face with the back of his hand, "Now, how the hell did that happen?"

"If I knew, do you think I would be here right now?"

"Why are still up this late anyway? Couldn't you just figure this out in the morning? Or could you not wait to reblog more Bannasplit Cunderthunt shit?"

Ethan gasped, "I am appalled. You know his name is Benedict Cumberbatch because you love Sherlock and Tumblr. And anyway," he looked down at the floor, "I was on Skype with Danny."

"Shut up." Aiden flopped back down on his bed. "Can't you just call him?"

A smile spread across Ethan's face, "Yeah! I'll do that!" He walked out of his brother's room yelling over his shoulder as he left, "Night, Aiden!"

"Night, loser." Aiden chuckled into his comforter. He laid like that for about a good five minutes before a loud thud came from the upper level. His eyes shot wide open and he flung from his bed to the hallway, running to his brother's room. "ETHAN!"

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Ethan was lying on his bed, propped up against his head board. He was tangled in blankets and his phone against his ear. "Sorry about ending abruptly on Skype earlier. My power decided to go out, taking my internet connection with it."

All Danny could do was giggle at Ethan's attempt at an apology, "Ethan. It's okay, really."

"So what were we talking about?"

"Um... You were telling me how cute my laugh was."

"Oh, yeah." Ethan could feel his cheeks turning red, "It's really cute."

"Is it?"

"Definitely. When you laugh, it makes me want to-" His sentence was cut short when he heard what sounded like six doors being slammed simultaneously in a library.

"What was that?" Danny asked panic-stricken.

"I- I don't know."

"Well, are you okay?"

"Danny. I think someone's in my house." Ethan was freaking out and it didn't help when he heard a frightened scream of his name come from his brother. "Danny, I think they're by Aiden! What do I do? Danny?"

"Ethan it's going to be okay. I'm already calling the police and I'm going to be there in fifteen minutes with Derek. Don't worry."

"How is your friend supposed to help us, Danny?" Ethan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. When he did, he could faintly see it. "Why is it so cold in here?"

"Oh, okay. Okay. FUCK. Ethan, I'll be there soon. I'm on my way."

"Danny, hurry."

"I will, see you soon."

"Wait. Danny."

"What?"

Ethan was contemplating on what exactly he was going to say to his friend- or was he his boyfriend? This might be the last time he talks to Danny, so he's going for it. "If I don't make it out of this, I just want you to know... I love you. Okay? Like more than a friend and more than a brother. I love you like I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if it's only a few minutes. Just remember that."

"Ethan. You're such an idiot. I love you, too. And yes, more than a friend or a brother. But don't you start spitting out all of this gooey, 'I'm going to die' shit at me right now. I need my boyfriend to keep his head on straight and stay alive. This is just some low level robber. So go find Aiden and I'll be there soon."

Ethan hung up the phone and went to find his brother, like his boyfriend told him to. Boyfriend. Danny is his boyfriend.

"ETHAN!" _Aiden._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm all caught up with my notebook now, and I only have two sentences for the next chapter. :( so it might be Saturday before I can update :/ but as always you can pester me to hurry up on here with comments or on tumblr (from-planet-gallifrey) Kayyy. BUYEEEE!


	7. Another One Bites the Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek and the pack try to figure out how to help the twins. Aiden and Ethan see unexplainable things.

Stiles and Derek sat alone in Derek's bed, finally separated from the pack after a rough three days. There were two more deaths from the Midnight Man in town, both teenagers, and the pack was still moping around the loft for two days after Allison's funeral. Eventually Derek convinced them to go home, claiming that their parents will suspect something and call the cops on the creeper hanging around their kids. Derek looked over at Stiles who was focused on getting a better high score on Candy Crush Saga on his IPhone. He rolled over and dropped a kiss on his cheek, "Do you hear that?"

Stiles paused his game by locking is phone. "Hear what?"

Derek rolled over on top of his pale boyfriend, "Exactly." Leaning in close, Derek placed his lips onto Stiles' and they shared a prurient kiss. Opening his mouth and tilting his head, Derek darted his tongue into his lover's mouth, while Stiles rocked his hips against his thigh. Derek ran his hands up Stiles' shirt and almost had it off when his phone rang. "Ugh."

"Let it go to voicemail." Stiles pleaded, tugging at Derek's belt loop.

"As much as I want to go back to what we were doing and shut the world out," Derek started reaching to get his phone. "And I do. But it might be pack, so I need to take it." He unlocked his phone, "It's Danny."

_"Derek?"_

  
"What's up, Danny?" Stiles said behind Derek, wrapping his limbs around his body."

He turned to Stiles and put a finger on his lips, signaling him to be quiet, "Is everything okay, Danny? It's only been a day since I saw you last."

_"The Midnight Man is at Ethan Aiden's house."_

Derek's eyebrows shot up, "What? How do you know?"

 _"Because I just got off the phone with Ethan. His power went out and he said it was extremely cold for a night in June in Beacon Hills."_ Danny took a deep breath in, _"Derek. He's going to kill them."_

"No he won't." Derek grabbed his keys and was already tying his shoes. "Text me their address, we'll meet you there."

Stiles grabbed his phone and sent a mass-message to the pack:

**(Sent: 1:05 AM to Erica, Boyd, Lydia, Ads-Hat (Jackson) Scott, Isaac)**

_The Midnight Man is at Aiden and Ethan's house. Not much time left. Meet us at 18036 Broadway Drive ASAP Derek and I on our way_

**(Delivered: 1:06 AM) (READ)**

"Let's go." Derek and Stiles ran to the Camaro and raced out of the lot, leaving dust in their tracks.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

The whole street was dark as Derek and Stiles pulled up to the house. Danny was pacing impatiently for a few minutes for the rest of the pack to show up. When they did, Danny caught them up on the situation.

Boyd pulled Derek aside, "This is the fourth attack since Lydia and Allison, Derek. Can we stop him?"

Derek glanced over at Danny before speaking, "I don't know. But we have to try."

The pack surrounded the two, obviously hearing their "private" conversation. Everyone had a bag of salt tied to their waist and flashlights in their hands. Erica stepped forward, "so are we just going to sit out here and gossip or are we going to save Aiden and Ethan from becoming monster food?"

Derek pushed past the wall of wolves to the house, "Let's get on it then." He stopped in his tracks and turned to his pack. " _No one_ is dying tonight." Stiles came to his side, placing a bag of salt into his hand. He graciously took it then spoke under his breath, "Not while I'm here."

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

The door creaked open as Derek and his pack pushed through the frame. Stiles was at Derek's side man-handling his flashlight as if it was the only thing keeping him on this Earth. Jackson and Lydia followed them with their hands in their salt bags, ready to throw at any moment. Boyd and Erica's fingers were interlocked with Erica jumping at every creak in the floorboards. Isaac was watching Danny desperately try to get a hold of Ethan, with Scott at the end quietly shutting the door and falling back in line.

They were standing in a huge room with two staircases leading up to a balcony fifty feet above the ground. On the left was two large doors, obviously meant for giants, which were outlined with gold and laced with foreign designs from top to bottom. Even the handles were custom made to fit the house's interior. To their right, Derek could see a family room with expensive furniture complete with a stone incrusted fireplace along with iron pokers.

In front of them and under the balcony, lay a hallway that split off into either direction. Derek inched forward, "Where the hell do we start, Danny?"

"Maybe one of their rooms?" He suggested.

Erica went closer to Danny, dragging Boyd along with her, "But which one?"

"Aiden's. I told Ethan to go find him before I hung up, so he's probably there."

"Then we'll check there." Derek turned to Danny and looked him in the eyes, "Look. I don't know the lay out of this house, so you need to get us there without complications, okay?"

Danny nodded his head then went off to the second floor of seemed like a labyrinth. While they were walking, Isaac turned to Scott to ask him a question, "Are their parents in the mob or something?"

Erica quickly spun around on her heal to face Isaac, "In case you didn't know, but there is a ghost-demon-monster-shit thing in this house trying to kill one, no two, of our classmates right now, and all we have to protect ourselves with is a fucking bag of salt. So if you could please be so kind as to shut the fuck up and not draw attention to us. That would be lovely. Do you understand?"

Isaac and the pack stopped walking by now and he was backing up into Scott trying to stay as far away as possible from Erica. Derek grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the front, making her let go of Boyd. "That's enough, Erica." His eyes glowed red forcing her to back down. She whimpered and pulled back to Boyd.

Before Derek could get another word out to shut them up, a loud thud came from down the hall on the opposite end of Aiden's room.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Ethan and Aiden were on the top floor of their home, waiting for Danny and his friends to come save them. The house was still dark and the temperature kept dropping. Ethan looked over at his brother who was stacking furniture in front of the feeble door. "Aiden. What are we going to do?" He whispered.

Aiden stopped messing with the chairs to turn to his brother, "I- I don't know, Eth." He resumed his stacking, "Isn't Danny supposed to be here? And didn't he call the police?"

The minutes were closing in on 1:30 AM and he was supposed to see Danny fifteen minutes ago. "What if we don't make it out of here?"

"Why wouldn't we? It's just some punk-ass robber."

"Don't you think robbers are a little more sneaky at this? Instead of slamming a bunch of doors and not making sure that anyone was in the house? It doesn't feel right." Ethan curled his knees to his chest and let his head fall onto them, "I think this is much bigger than a robber, Aid."

Aiden walked over to his brother and was about to reassure him everything was going to be OK when they heard a loud thump and growling come from the rooms directly below them. "What the hell?"

Ethan stood up, "Is Danny here?" He looked at his phone, "There's no signal." Ethan began to demolish Aiden's make-shift wall to get out of the room.

"What are you doing, Eth?"

"I have to go help Danny. He could be in trouble." he said, getting closer to the last chair.

"No, you don't. You have no responsibility for him, so you don't have to risk your life over a damned robbery." Aiden went over and grabbed his brother's arm, "Please, Ethan, don't leave."

He turned to face his brother, "You don't understand, Aiden. My boyfriend could be in pain right now trying to save us. I have to try to save him." He eyed Aiden's grasp on his arm. "Either come with me, or let me go."

There were a few seconds of silence before Aiden let go of Ethan's arm and threw the last chair out of their way. "Let's go, loser."

The two brother's quietly made their way to the second floor, following the sounds of struggle. The closer they got to the room, the colder the air became. Ethan opened the door to find salt scattered along the floor being lit up by abandoned flashlights. The bed in the middle was crashed and torn to shreds, covered in blood. Closet doors were pushed in, dresser drawers were thrown against the walls, and a mirror was shattered in the corner. It looked like a massacre.

Ethan stepped out of the door way and back into the hallway. He studied the door; there were fake flowers around the name 'Helen.' This room belonged to their maid; it was probably her blood all over the bed. He turned to his brother, "She's dead, Aid."

"No. She can't be. She wasn't even supposed to be here this weekend." Aiden stormed through the door and grabbed a flashlight. The beams of light produced seven pairs of glowing yellow eyes and a pair of dark red eyes coming from the corner. Aiden dropped the light when a black figure appeared before him. The light fell into a pile of salt that splashed the figure to screech and fly out of the window, "What the actual fuck?"

Danny's eyes went back to brown as he rushed to Ethan. Holding his face between his hands, he spoke, "You're okay."

Ethan leaned into Danny's touch, "Of course I am. Just some robbery, right?"

Danny wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's body, and then pulled him into a long, overdue kiss.

In the background, Derek cleared his throat after he and his betas were no longer wolfed out. Danny slowly severed their kiss and turned to his Alpha, running a hand up the back of his hair, shooting him a sheepish grin.

Derek took a few steps forward to the startled humans, "I guess you're going to need an explanation?"

Aiden nodded his head.

Stiles crept forward, "Maybe we can talk somewhere else? Like, _not_ , where there's a body and a hot spot for Demon things?"

"I agree." Derek said, "Let's go back to the loft. We can talk there."

Erica walked over to Lydia, "Is this becoming a gay pack now, or...?"

Lydia just shrugged her shoulders, "You have no idea." They followed everyone else to the cars.

There was a lot of explaining to do.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the quality of this chapter. I've been sick all week and wasn't allowed to be in front of screens until today, and I'm taking these pain pills that make me loopy and tired. So I hope you guys can forgive me. Eventually I will revise this chapter. I'm going to work on chapter eight next week and try really hard to get it uploaded before next Saturday.  
> I appreciate everyone who keeps reading! And as always, I'm on tumblr (from-planet-gallifrey) hit me up!


	8. Come With Me, Or Let Me Go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to let you figure this out on your own...

"So that's why I brought Derek and the rest of the guys along to save you." Danny wrapped up. He and the pack finished explaining everything, from Derek killing Peter and starting his pack, up to Allison's death.

"You're all wolves?" Aiden asked.

"No. Stiles isn't, neither was Allison." Danny replied.

Ethan grabbed Danny's hand, "How did you become part of the.."

"Pack?" Danny finished for him. Ethan nodded his head. "I asked Derek for the bite when we found out about the Alpha Pack. I figured since I have a history in Martial Arts, I could help." 

"Did it hurt?"

"At first, it hurt a lot. But eventually the pain subsided and I could smell everything, hear things from miles away. Then I went on my first run with the pack." Danny's eyes lit up as he explained his experience. "It was nothing like I've ever been through before. It was amazing and new and a complete rush." He looked back at Ethan. "Why?"

"Allison was a good person. She was smart and beautiful, extremely talented in everything that she did. She was one of the few people that made the adjustment here, better. I want to help." Ethan stood up and took a few steps in Derek's direction. Looking him straight in the eyes, he firmly spoke, "I want the bite."

Danny jumped up from his seat, "What?"

"Let me help, Derek." Ethan continued, brushing Danny off.

"Ethan what are you doing?" Aiden asked frantically, trying to make sense of his brother's actions.

"I want to kill the sick fucker that killed our friend, Aiden. Or at least help in some way."

Derek stood up and went in between the twins, "If you do want to become pack, you have to know there's no turning back."

"I understand."

"I'm not done yet. There are a lot of risks. First, you could die from the bite, and it won't be pleasant. But if it does take, you'll never have a normal life again. You'll be hunted by cliche people who kill first, ask questions later. You need to be careful of what plants you come across- wolfsbane can kill us.

"Mountain ash is another thing you should worry about. Only humans can handle it, and if it's in a complete circle, it can either keep wolves in or keep them out. And you must never come in contact with it. Not that you can even touch-"

"Derek. I understand the risks." Ethan said, cutting Derek off. "I still want the bite. I want to help."

Derek took in a draw of air, "Fine. I'll give it to you. But  _never_  interrupt me again. Ever." his eyes flashing red. 

"I'll keep that in mind."

Aiden went quickly to Ethan's side, and grasped his arm, "Ethan, you can't do this. Please."

"I'm doing it if you want me to, or not. So come with me, or let me go." 

Silence fell among the room, as Aiden let go of his brother's arm. He grabbed his phone and walked out of the loft, slamming the door behind him.

Ethan's face fell to the floor and Danny pulled him in for a hug, rubbing soothing circles into his back muscles. Derek spoke softly to Ethan, "I'm going to give you time to think about all of this. Work things out with your brother, you need to have a clear mind during the transition. Come back tomorrow around six with everything done, but you can stay here for the rest of the night if you feel the need to."

"Thank you."

With a nod of his head, Derek left for his room with Stiles trailing closely behind.

Lydia fished through her purse for her car keys and went to the door, "I'm going to go talk some sense into that boy."

"Lydia!" Ethan called out as she closed the door behind her.

"Come on," Danny said. "We'll sleep on the couch." Ethan followed Danny and they both moved around to comfortably fit on it together. Eventually they both settled with Danny as the big spoon and the rest of the pack found places around the room to sleep for the night.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Lydia was speeding down the gravel road only for ten minutes before she found Aiden running off to the side. She swerved her car in front of him, blocking his path. Also causing Aiden to run into the driver's door and fall on his ass.

"What the hell, Lydia?" Aiden screamed from the ground.

She charged out of her seat, fumbling with her belt, "'What the hell, Lydia?' No. What the  _fuck,_ Aiden. Why did you do that?"

"What do you mean? He told me to choose, so I did." Aiden slowly stood up from the ground. Only to get pushed back down by Lydia's were-strength. "Fuck."

"You're an idiot you know that? A complete idiot!" Lydia crouched down next to Aiden. "Do you know why?'

He stared blankly up at her, "Obviously not."

"You're an idiot because he wanted you to stay. To do this suck-ass thing with him. So you guys can stay brothers."

"We'll still be bro-"

"Hell, even if you could just stay there with him while it happened. Maybe hold his hand while he gets bit by a dammed wolf."

"I could do tha-"

"You could do it for me." Lydia stood again.

"What?"

Lydia's hand shot up to her mouth, "Nothing."

Aiden slowly got to his feet, being prepared to be pushed down again, but he never was. "You said, do it for you."

"No I didn't."

He placed an open palm on her upper arm, "Do you still like me, Lydia?"

Lydia sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, trying not to speak. She shook her head.

Aiden's hand slid along her shoulder and to her face, "Don't say anything if you do." Lydia remained silent and Aiden took that as a cue to continue. He leaned forward to close this distance between their lips as his free hand moved to Lydia's lower back. He stopped centimeters in front of Lydia's lips. 

"Why did you stop?" 

"I knew it." The corner of his lips turning up to a smirk.

"Shut up." Lydia pressed hard into Aiden's mouth. She parted her lips for Aiden's tongue to slip in and feel along her teeth. The kiss lasted for a solid seven and a half minutes before Aiden pulled away.

"I'll do it."

Lydia's face grew into a smile, "Really?"

"Yeah. But on one condition," Aiden kissed her quick before saying, "If you and Jackson are still together, it ends. Tonight. So we can continue this." He gave her a long, wet kiss to prove his point.

"Will do." She grabbed his hand and they walked back to the car. He climbed into the passenger seat, and put on his belt. Then the two went back on the dark gravel road to Derek's loft.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Aiden and Lydia calmly walked through the doors of Derek's loft. The pack was already awake from the sounds of Lydia's car, leaving Ethan asleep behind Danny. When Danny caught sight of Aiden, he rolled over to wake Ethan. 

Ethan opened his eyes to see his brother by the couch. "What do you want, Aiden?"

"Can we talk, somewhere private?"

"What ever you want to say, you can say it. They could hear it anywhere we go. Wolf hearing." 

Aiden rubbed his face, "Right. Look, I'm sorry. For everything. For the way I acted when you needed me and that I didn't understand what you were trying to say. And-"

"Get to the point."

"I've thought things over and I've decided that I want to do this with you. I want to be a werewolf with you, and stop Allison's killer." Derek walked down the winding stairs, followed closely by Stiles as Aiden finished speaking. He turned to the men at the stairs and spoke firmly, "I want the bite."

"Aiden."

"Like you said, Ethan. Allison was a good person and I want to help. I've made up my mind."

Derek lightly spoke, trying to return the twins back to their situation. "You both want the bite?"

They both said 'yes.'

"And you understand the pros and cons?"

Again, 'yes.'

"Stiles, get the supplies. You two, lift up your shirts." The twins did as they were told as Derek dropped to his knees in front of them. He drew his head back and let his fangs out. With one swift movement, he bit down and quickly released on Ethan's right hip.  Ethan let out a sharp cry of pain before Stiles came over with a towel to wipe at blood and place a bandage over the open wound. Derek rolled his head back once more and repeated the same process with Aiden- ending in the same result.

The rest of the night was rough for both of them, especially Aiden. They had the twins laying in Derek's bed with the pack scattered around the room.

It was about 6 AM when Aiden woke up screaming in pain. Derek released himself from Stiles' grasp and rushed to the screaming kid. Ethan and Erica were trying to hold him down long enough for Derek to check under the bloody bandage. the wound was oozing with thick, black gunk that put off an ungodly scent. "Stiles, get something else on this."

Derek went over to Ethan after they got Aiden to calm down enough for him to leave. "Let me see yours, now." Ethan took off his shirt, then his bandage to reveal completely healed skin. "Shit."

Lydia spoke frantically as she helped Stiles re-wrap Aiden's hip, "Derek, what's wrong? Why is it oozing like this and Ethan's is fine?"

Derek took a seat by Aiden, taking his hand in hopes that if his Alpha were present, the bite would heal. He sat like that, deep in his thoughts until Lydia restated her question. "Derek, what's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before speaking, "His body is rejecting the bite."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY! IT'S LIKE FIVE DAYS EARLY!!  
> I had a lot of inspiration over the weekend.... so yeah. I'm not sick anymore! That's good right? :) Well I just wanted to tell you that I love everyone that keeps reading this :) it fills my heart with joy when I get notifications about kudos, comments, bookmarks, etc. I appreciate every single one of them :)  
> Until next time...
> 
> I'm still on tumblr if you wanted to know  
> from-planet-gallifrey come talk to me :)


	9. How Could You Be So Heartless?

The room was silent as Derek tried to plan his next steps. What were they supposed to if Aiden die? What story was the town going to believe? Everyone in town knows the twins' parents, loved them even. So what were people going to think if one of their healthy, lacrosse-playing boys mysteriously died? Could he get people to believe he was caught up in drugs? Most-likely not.

"Derek." Lydia's panicked voice brought him back to Aiden's situation. "What are we going to do?" Lydia repeated.

He looked over at her, and with slim to no expression on his face, "There's nothing we can do. His mind obviously wasn't in the right place when I gave him the bite, and it's affecting the process."

"There has to be something." Scott urged.

Stiles fidgeted in the corner of the room, looking like he was about to burst. Isaac caught sight of it and locked onto the sounds of Stiles' heart. The two made eye contact, making Stiles' heartbeat race faster. "Stiles, do you know something we don't."

"No. We know exactly the same amount of information. There's nothing that you need to tell me, and nothing I need to tell you. Everyone's on the same page right. Yep. Yup." Stiles babbled, with a  _pop._

"Why would you even try to lie in a room full of werewolves? Especially at a time like this." Boyd yelled, taking a couple steps to Stiles, about to pounce. Erica ran between them, placing a hand on Boyd's chest before things could go further.

"Stiles," Isaac calmly spoke, like a mother trying to get china glass from a toddler. "What aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing. Just," Stiles huffed out a breath of defeat. "Remember when we had a copy of Gerard's Bestiary?" He paused to watch Derek stand up with curiosity He continued: "I read that, okay. It was ,like, in poem form so don't judge me. Anyway,  _If the bite was given, but it did not take, you may save the new werewolf, with a touch of it's mate._  So basically you need Aiden's mate to save him."

"Basically." Jackson mocked. "How hard can that be, right?"

The room fell back to silence while everyone processed the information. Apparently they all came to the same conclusion and look over at Ethan. He was biting at his claws and dropped his hand as he caught their gaze. "I don't know who his mate is. I don't even know who he ever has a crush on for the week. I'm no help here, Derek. I'm sorry." Ethan's head fell limp in his hands, "I dragged him into this and I can't even help him. I can't help my only brother." Tears tricked down his cheeks and Danny wrapped his arms around Ethan's shoulders, pulling him into his chest.

"Then what are we going to do?" Erica yelled.

"Stiles." Lydia spoke up. "What did the Bestiary say on how to touch them?"

"What?"

"Like touch the wound or kiss them or what?" she paused and waited for his reply. "Stiles!"

"Uh. Um. I think it said you'd have to kiss the wound and rub their head. Wait. No. Reverse that; kiss the temple and rub the bite. It's supposed to complete a circle or something." He rushed out.

"Okay," Lydia eyed Jackson, she gave him a peck on the cheek then softly whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry." She left his side and went over to an unconscious and moaning Aiden. She did exactly what Stiles said.

A few minutes passed before Aiden regain consciousness, Lydia never leaving his side. His body startled awake, making everyone in the room jump.

"Aiden?" Ethan called out. He went closer to his bother. "You're- You're okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be? You're okay rig-" Aiden's words were cut short by Derek prodding under his bandage. "What are you doing?'

"Checking your bite." Derek replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. After a couple more seconds, he finished his inspection, "It's healed."

"Why wouldn't it be? Derek. Ethan, what happened?" Aiden looked frantically around the room, searching for any sign to what's going on. No one was speaking. "What's going on? Tell me."

"The bite didn't take, Aiden." Boyd started. "Your body began to reject it and shut down." 

"Then how am I still alive right now?"

"Because the touch of your...  _mate_." Jackson said through gritted teeth. "Reversed the process and healed you."

"My- my mate?" Aiden looked to Lydia, but she found the floor more interesting at the moment. "Lydia?"

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes at Aiden when he wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Shut up."

"Yeah. Seriously. Shut up." Jackson snapped at him.

"Jackson." Derek turned to him. "Enough. Wait downstairs until I call you up. Isaac, go with him."

Isaac gave a nod of his head and followed Jackson out the door. He tried to get Jackson to calm down while they waited for Derek's orders."

"Aiden, you should be fine. But I think the best option right now would be for you to get a  _lot_ of rest and be with your," Derek glanced to Lydia. "Mate."

"Maybe we should give them some privacy?" Erica suggested.

Derek agreed and signaled for the pack to follow him downstairs.

"So." Aiden said, dragging out the 'o' sound. "We're mates now?"

"Yeah I guess we are. But I don't think officially."

"Why do I fell like you're not as excited as I am?"

"I'm excited, believe me. But I'm not excited about how we found out. How everyone found out."

"You mean how Jackson found out?" Aiden reached out and grabed her hand, lacing his fingers between hers. "You saved my life, Lyd."

"I know." She squeezed his hand and kissed the back of it as she stood up from the wooden floor. "But I need to talk to Jackson, you know, and explain everything."

"I understand," Aiden pulled the comforter up to his neck and curled onto his right side. "I'm going to take a nap."

Lydia let out a chuckle and kissed him on the forehead. "Good night. I'm really glad you're alive."

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Jackson, will you please just calm down?" Lydia heard Danny call out from the kitchen area, "It's over now. There's nothing you can do now."

"Don't you think I know that?" Jackson's features softened and his shoulders slumped as he ran a hand down his face, "She was the love of my life, Danny. Every since I can remember, I loved her. And now within seconds she's one of my best friend's mate? Would you be calm about that?"

Danny averted Jackson's sharp look and quietly said, "No. No I wouldn't be."

"I didn't think so. So please, Danny, can you stop telling me what to do and just be my friend?"

"Of course I can." Danny said taking Jackson in for a huge hug.

"Good. I'm going on a run," Jackson informed, prying himself from Danny's grip. He shot a glare at the stairway. "I'll talk to you when I get back, Lydia." 

With approval from his Alpha, Jackson left the loft and went to the woods, leaving the pack with Lydia to work things out.

Lydia took that as a cue to come all the way down the steps. The pack stood in the kitchen uncertain of what to do next. There were a few moments of awkwardness before Ethan spoke up, "So does this mean that Lydia and Aiden are supposed to make cute little werewolf babies now?"

Derek's attention popped up from Stiles' shoelaces, "What? No. Hell no. Not at this age. No."

"Derek," Ethan continued. "Think about the cute were-gingers that would come out of it!"

Derek plugged one of his ears with his finger and with his free hand he grabbed Stiles'. They moved to the bathroom with Derek singing, "Lalalalalalalalalalalala." While Ethan followed the two, spouting out comments about the mate's ginger babies.

"But Derek." Ethan singsonged after he slammed the door. "Think about how cute they'd be. Derek? Derek!"

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Cool air cut through Jackson's hair as he hurdled another fallen log in the woods; five years of lacrosse coming in handy.

Jackson was running from his problems, from his fears. From heart break. Basically, Lydia. He just couldn't believe she could do that to him. Break his heart and humiliate him in front of the pack. At a time like that. How could she be so heartless? How-

His thought was cut short by a scream, piercing through the night air. With the distraction, Jackson didn't notice, yet another, fallen log that sent him crashing to the floor. "The fuck?"

"Somebody help me!" The voice was faint, about a couple of miles away from him. "Please! Help me, somebody!" it was coming from a woman.

Jackson doesn't even remember when he started running, but he was. Faster than he thought was possible. He didn't know where he was going, or what he was getting himself into, but he had to find her. He had to help her- save her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAY! Aiden's not dead! 
> 
> I hope you guys liked this chapter because it was so much fun for me to write. :) 
> 
> Well as always I'm on tumblr (from-planet-gallifrey) if you want to check me out :) 
> 
> Oh! And good news guys! I have next week off from work so I can focus on writing The Midnight Man! 
> 
> So... Bu-bye! :)


	10. All Of The Thanks Go To...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new character gets introduced.

Jackson arrived at a clearing in the woods within a reasonable amount of time, he thought. But somehow, it didn't matter if the time was reasonable or how fast he had ran, it wasn't fast enough. The Midnight Man was about to ram through the girl, most likely grabbing her heart like he did with Allison's. But it wasn't attacking her yet, it looked like they were talking, maybe arguing. The girl got really upset and it must have been enough for it to explode. It started to shoot straight at her.

Jackson wasn't going to let that happen again, however, not if he could do something to change the helpless fate of a woman in need. The next thing he knew, he was running in his beta form at the black shadow, claws out and screaming.

Even as he was screaming the loudest he could, it didn't stop the shadow's process. The Man's fist had been lodged into her chest, fingers curled around her heart. Jackson ran through him creating black fog as he vanished with an ear-piercing shriek. The girl collapsed limp to the ground, bleeding from the hole in her chest. Jackson breathed a sigh of relief as he knelt beside her, seeing that the hole wasn't through.

The girl’s light brown hair had clumps of leaves and dirt caked into it. Her skin gone pale, weather it from the loss of blood or normality, he doesn't know. Big brown eyes were staring back at him, the life fading quickly. The necklace around her neck, an arrow type shape- almost an upside down cartoon Christmas tree, bouncing while she suffers for shallow breaths. She's beautiful and familiar with every detail screaming at Jackson to remember her, but he can't.

A sound escapes her lips bringing Jackson from his thoughts- the sound of her choking on her own blood. He desperately needs to get this girl back to the house, back to Derek, without hurting her. She screams in pain as Jackson lifts her off the ground with a hand under her legs and a hand at her lower back, bridal style, as carefully as he could. He carried her six miles back to the loft. Gently over the logs and swiftly down the hills with only one thought on his mind: Get her to Derek. Derek can save her.

It took Jackson less than three and a half minutes to reach the loft and by then the girl’s breaths have become shorter and longer in between intakes. Her face has gone paler and her clothes clung to her body with dark blood.

Approaching the steps, Jackson yelled for Derek, for anyone, to come help him. The loft's door burst open with Derek and the pack coming quickly to the bottom of the steps. "What happened?" Derek asked Jackson, taking the body, "Jackson. Speak."

"The Midnight Man," he started, gaining his breath. "I heard her screaming and when I got there, he already had his hand inside her chest. I- I didn't know what to do, I was too late, so I brought her here. It's like they were arguing and it- it tried to kill her. Derek, can you help her?"

"To be honest Jackson, she looks too far gone to help." Derek said, laying her on the top of the steps, "I don't think that I could do anything to make it better. Do you know her name?"

"No. But I should. She feels familiar."

Stiles broke through the wall of wolves to get to Derek's side, bearing first-aid essentials. He took the gauze and placed it on the wound, applying pressure. He looks over to his mate, "Bite her Derek."

"What?"

"Turn her." Stiles clarified. "Make her part of the pack. Either way, she has a chance at dying, right? So why not give her a chance to live?"

"Fine, lift up her shirt. Only enough I can bite her hip, no further." Derek told Jackson. "You and Boyd take her to my room, get her comfortable and do _not_ leave her side. Do you understand me?"

They both gave him a nod and a soft "yes" before Derek told them to speak. He then bit the girl's side, her face not even registering pain- not even knowing that sharp teeth just pierced her skin, going so close to her bone. Her eyes fluttered shut and she slowly exhaled. Derek took Stiles' hand as they watched Boyd and Jackson go the rest of the way to his room.

"I just hope we weren't too late." He whispered to Stiles, walking in behind the group.

Stiles gave him a quick kiss and a slap on his butt, "You did the right thing, Sourwolf." Grabbing his hand again, Stiles led him up the stairs, "Come on, let's go figure out what we can about this girl."

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

**7:05 AM**

"Sunrise. You never really get the chance to watch, do you? I mean, like, _really_   watch it. To let all the colors from the sky sink into your body, and let the heat absorb into your skin. Everyone is usually too busy on their phones, scrolling through page after page of their favorite social media website or beating their old high score on some lame-ass app some kid made, to really _enjoy_ it. Right? It's a shame they don't, because it's beautiful. Each sunrise is different in it's own creative way, each of them perfect. They are almost better than sunsets, don't even get me started on those. Especially at the sea, overlooking the water. They're great, leave me in total awe every time I watch one."

Jackson looked toward the girl in Derek's bed, trying to figure out if it was her that said that, or if Boyd's voice suddenly got very, very high.

"I probably don't make sense right now, do I?"

Jackson made eye contact with her and gave her a reassuring smile, "No. I understand what you're saying."

"Good." She smiled back, "Uh, not to be rude or anything, but, where am I?"

"You're safe with the pack, don't worry. But. Yeah, um, do you remember anything from last night?" She shook her head. "Okay, well, do you remember your name?"

"Maddy. Owen. Maddy Owen." she said slowly, "And you are?"

"Oh right. I'm Jackson and this," He kicked the black silhouette on the ground, "Is Boyd."

"But there are more of you?" Her hands shot up to her ears, "The pounding, make it stop."

Jackson quickly sat on the bed and grabbed her hands from her ears, "Focus on me. Maddy, focus on me and let the other noises drift away. Grab them, and let them go. Listen to my voice."

She slowly lowered her hands still enclosed with Jackson's. Her eyes popped open as the sides of her mouth curled up into a grin, "That worked." Struggling against Jackson's grip for a moment, she flung her arms around his neck, "Thank you."

"I see everything went well?" Derek asks, as he and the pack walked into the room. "Boyd, get up."

Boyd slowly rose from the floor and found Erica's hand, "Where can a brother get a descent night's sleep in this house?"

"Go downstairs and get some rest," Derek started, turning to Erica. "You too. It's been a long night and you guys deserve it. I'll wake you in a couple of hours."

"'Bout damn time. Thanks." Erica replied, leading Boyd down the steps to Isaac's room.

"So how are you doing, Maddy?" Derek asked, walking over to the bed.

"Fine I guess," she replied. Pushing up to lean against the head board he face went to confusion, "How do you know my name?"

Derek pointed to his ears, "It's something we all have in common. These 'talents'" Derek said, air quoting with his fingers, "comes with what saved your life. And let me tell you, I'm very surprised you held on, you looked pretty far gone last night."

"Thanks, I guess. For saving me." She said, sitting up straighter in Derek's bed.

"Don't thank me. Really, Jackson's the one that found you and brought you back here; I didn't do anything good for you. I possibly made your life worse."

"But at least I'm alive, right?"

"You have no idea." Isaac said in the crowd, putting emphasis on the 'no'.

"I'm am so confused right now."

"I've already explained this enough, Jackson. You take this one and we'll go get breakfast around. Shall we?"

"Sure."

"Great." Derek grabbed Stiles' hand as they walked out of the room.

"I hope you like pancakes!" He yelled behind him, trying to keep up with Derek's pace."

"I'm Lydia by the way. That was Derek and Stiles, and this is Ethan, Aiden, Danny, Scott, and Isaac." Lydia said, and then gestured to her clothes, "I don't normally look like this by the way. But it was nice meeting you, Maddy!" She was almost out the door when she hesitated and turned around. "Should I know you? You seem like someone I know.

"No, you shouldn't know me."

"Okay, sorry. Bye!" And with a wave she was gone.

"It was nice meeting you, too!" And with that, they were left alone. "And then there were two..."

Jackson allowed himself a soft chuckle before going into serious mode, "So about the hearing-"

"Yeah what is with that? I can smell a lot of different things too. And what did that Derek guy mean about something we all have in common? What's going on?"

Jackson grabbed her hand, "You're going to have to trust me, okay?" She gave him a small nod, as he went into his beta form. Starting with the glow of his eyes, to the facial hair, then to the teeth and a bit of the claws. "You're a werewolf, like the rest of us. That's why your senses are heightened. Derek's our Alpha, and when I found you last night, you were so close to death, he bit you and we hoped for the best."

Maddy sat there taking it all in, Jackson expected that much. But what he didn't expect was for her to reach up to his face and rub her thumb where his eyebrows should be and then focused all of her attention on his claws. "Does it hurt?"

"At first, but you get used to it." He said retracting his claws and sitting back.

"This is so cool. What color do my eyes go? What's an Alpha? Why can't I make my nails grow? Did the Derek guy bite you too? Did he bite everyone in this house? Where those two guys twins? Because they looked like it. Do the curly haired guys have something going on between them? There was a lot of sexual tension coming off of them-"

Jackson brought a finger to her lips, urging her to stop talking. She was a girl version of Stiles, how is there two of him? "All of your questions will be answered, but maybe you should go take a shower and meet us downstairs for breakfast and I’ll find you some clothes. Sound good?"

"Sure."

"Okay then, the shower is in the bathroom over there."

With a nod, Maddy was out of the bed and half way to the bathroom before she stopped. "Thanks, Jackson. Really. You saved my life from what I'm hearing and that means so much to me, you don't understand."

"Don't worry about it. Now go shower." He smiled and went for the door; she raced back in front of him, enclosing him in her arms. After a few seconds, her grip loosened and she spoke:

"Seriously, Jackson. I owe you my life and I'll never be able to repay you." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and went off to the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I just want to tell you that I am so sorry I haven't uploaded in a while, at first it was because of my grandma being in the hospital again, then I started school, and then I almost lost intrest. But fear not, I will NOT give up on this story and I will finish it even if it kills me. :)... I hope it doen't come to that.
> 
> WIth that out of the way, I hoped you enjoyed the new chapter and I'm not sure when the next one will be uploaded but hopefully soon. :)
> 
> And as always, you can stalk me on tumblr (from-planet-gallifrey) i reblog a lot of sterek. :)


	11. Greenberg

The pack stopped what they were doing as soon as Jackson walked into the room, "Good to see you're up and moving, Aiden." He said as he plucked a grape from the bowl of fruit on the table. "Hey, Lyd, could you lend some clothes to Maddy? She is taking and shower in Derek's bathroom and her clothes are all torn and bloody."

"Yeah." She said, walking out of the room.

Jackson took a seat at the big diner table across from Stiles, who was looked extremely sad and uncomfortable. Jackson looked between his Alpha and his Alpha's mate, anticpation killing him. What happened that they weren't telling him? "Derek, what's wrong? Why does everyone look so sad?"

Derek looked to Danny, silently giving him his permission to talk. He took it, "There was another attack last night, besides Maddy. Another kid in our class was killed." He took a long pause.

"Well, are you goin got tell me who it was? Everyone I plan on caring about is in this house or already in the ground, so I don't know why you guys are acting like I'm going to go ferral. Just tell me, Jebus."

"It was Greenberg." Danny blurt out.

Jackson stopped his rant and looked dumbfounded around the room. "Okay..."

Danny shot up from his seat, "Okay? That's all you have to say about _another_ one of our dead classmates?"

"What dp you want me to say, Danny? That I'm going to miss him? That I'm sorry he got turned into Midnight Dust like Allison? I don't really have time to mourn over an insignificant death that doesn't apply to me or affect me in anyway!"

"Do you even hear what you sound like right now, Jackson? Greenberg just _died_ and is going to be buried in the ground just like Allison next week. I know he wasn't the most important person to you, but think about his parents. His best friends, his family, me for fuck's sake. He was important to people and now those people will never be able to hear his voice again, or tell him that he's loved, or hug him, or _see him_ again! Jackson he went to school with us for your whole life and was the first to accept me how I was when I moved here. He played on the same lacrosse team as us for _six years._ He was one of my closest friends and the only other person who I could trust, truly trust, besides you and Ethan.

"He took the fall for you and missed the sate game when Mr. Harris found your practice test taped to the ceiling because he knew you were too important to miss it. Do you remember that?" Jackson slouched in his chair and gave him a small nod. "And you don't feel anything?" Jackson said nothing, too stunned to speak. Danny never yelled at him like this. Even when shit got bad. "Fuck, Jackson. I thought you would've grown up some since you turned. Everyone else has." He gestured tp the group who was extremely quiet, even Stiles. "It's time for you to grow the fuck up, Jackson. Because, I for one, am tired of your jack-assery."

"Danny-" Jackson started.

"No." Danny cut him off. "You've done enough. Derek, can Ethan and I go for a run?"

"Don't go too far and be back in a half hour." With a nod they left hand in hand.

And Maddy picked that exact time to walk down the steps in Lydia's borrowed clothes. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, not at all," Derek said. "I think the pancakes are almost done, why don't you come take a seat?"

 "Thanks." She chose the one beside Stiles as Derek slid a plate with pancakes to her. Jackson sat down across from her, taking an orange from the fruit bowl.

"Do you have any syrup?" Maddy and Jackson asked in unison. She raised an eyebrow at him, "Jinx. You owe me a coke."

Jackson gave an unenthusiastic raise of his eyebrows, his mouth going in a tight line. He took the syrup that Derek handed him and began to pour it on his pancakes.

"Or not. You don't have to." Maddy said slowly, she looked around the room, her gaze stopping on Stiles'. She gave him a confused look. _what's wrong with him?,_ she mouthed.

He just shook his head and went to help Derek in the kitchen.

They finished their meal in silence. Occasionally Lydia and Aiden would try to start a conversation but Jackson's glare won out in the end.

"Okay," Maddy started, standing up from the table and placing her dishes in the sink. "I'm going home now. Thanks for everything, really. Derek, Jackson." She turned to Lydia. "I'll find some way to get you your clothes after I wash them."

"What?" Stiles asked, going around the island in the kitchen.

"I'm going home." She repeated with an amused laugh.

"No, Maddy, you can't go home not yet." Stiles said, holding out his hand in some order to stop her. "Derek. Help?"

"He's right." Derek agreed, moving behind Stiles and placing a hand on his waist. "It's not safe for you right now. You almost died last night. Plus, the person could try again tonight, but maybe succeed."

Maddy gave them a soft smile, "Apparently I'm a werewolf now. So if someone does try to kill me, I think I can handle myself."

"You don't understand, Maddy. You can't control your shift, you're not anchored, and you'd be rising killing someone. You may be fine with that, but I'm not." Derek gave her sigh when she looked unwilling to budge. "Don't make me pull the alpha card. Ask Isaac how bad that is."

"Don't." Isaac said taking a sip of his orange juice.

"If I stay, will you teach me what I need to know?" She asked him.

Derek nodded his head, "Yes because you're-"

"A risk." She said, cutting him off and pulling her chair out to sit down.

He gave her an amused smile and pulled Stiles close, "I was going to say that your my beta and that you're pack now. But a risk is good too."

"Good. I have no one to care that I'm gone, anyway." She stated then laughed.

"Maddy, tell us about yourself. Where are you from?" Stiles asked her. 

"Well.." Maddy started. "I'm not from around here, that's for certain. I drift around a lot so I don't stay in one place too often."

"That sounds exciting." Lydia cooed, resting her head on her hand. "What made you come to Beacon Hills? This place can't be too entertaining."

Maddy hesitated, "Uh, actually. One of my friends heard through the grape vine that the veterinarian here has a lot of cool stuff. Then he told me that this place has different vintage things, like ancient things. He said that a lot of stuff I need would be here because this town has been around for so long. So I thought, what they hey!, and I took the next train out of Utah and here I am."

Derek's eyebrows met in the center of his forehead and he leaned on the island next to Stiles, Maddy peaking his interest. "What kind of things were you looking for?" he asked her.

She looked over at him, her heart beating a little faster as she thought of a response. "I just needed-"

"Who cares what she needed, Derek." Jackson asked, throwing his orange peal on the table. "This situation is fucked up enough, I don't think we need to interrogate her."

Derek let go of an exasperated huff, standing up right again. "I'm not interrogating her, Jackson. I just asking a few questions to get to know my new beta. Okay? Is that okay with you?" he asked him, waiting for him to fall into the trap.

Stiles didn't give him a chance to, when he threw his dish towel at his face, causing him to jerk back and fall over. Everyone laughed, releasing some of the built up tension. "So, now that the awkwardness is out of the room." Lydia started.

"Nope," Jackson said walking toward the living room and plopping down on the couch. "Now it is. Continue."

"Anyway." Lydia began again, rolling her eyes. "when do you think we should start training the new betas?" 

"Well, we can start when-" Derek was cut off by Danny and Ethan bursting through the loft door. "What's wrong now?"

"Derek. Ethan and Aiden's parents have the cops out looking for them." Danny said, moving closer to him.

Derek turned to look at Ethan, then to Aiden. "I thought you said they were on a cruise or something."

"They're supposed to be fine for another week. Shit, they probably think we've been kidnapped." Aiden said, jumping to his feet.

"Then that means they went back to the house and they know Helen's dead!" Ethan said, his eyes flashing yellow to match his brothers. "Christ, Derek. What do we do?"

"First, I need you to call down, find your anchor before you lose control, both of you." Derek said walking over to grab a phone from the counter.

"Maybe I should call my dad, talk to him?" Stiles suggested.

Derek tossed him the phone, "I was just thinking the same thing."

"What do you want the rest of us to do?" Scott asked, coming into the kitchen with Isaac.

"Wake Boyd and Erica up and run the perimeter, come back of you see something strange. Anything." He ordered, looking at Jackson relaxing on the couch still. "Take Jackson with you. And Isaac.

"Got it." Scott said going to the room while Jackson and Isaac went ahead. He didn't even have to make out to the couch before Erica and Boyd were already walking out of the room. 

"We're up, heard everything. Don't see how you can't." Erica announced.

"This shit never stops." Boyd mumbled, putting on his shoes.

"Calm down, Cocoa Wolf." Erica said pulling him up, "Let's go catch some bad guys."

Once they left the house, Stiles came back to the room. "Any good news?" Lydia asked.

Stiles shook his head, "My dad said that their parents missed the cruise because there was huge storm coming in, making it too dangerous to go out to sea. They came back home to find Helen dead. They were frantic at the sight of the mess and went to the police claiming their sons have been kidnapped by a murderer." He gestured to the twins. "Like they said. Derek, the police found our tire tracks at their house, and they led them to the woods. My dad is trying his best to calm them down."

"Shit." Maddy whispered. They looked at her when she lifted her head from the table. "Sorry, I'll be quiet now."

"What are we going to do, Derek?" Stiles asked him, placing the phone on the counter.

"Call your parents." Derek said, hanging Ethan the phone.

"And tell them what?" Aiden asked him.

"Everything."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made a new years resolution. I know, it's not cliche at all. But it was to finish things that I've started. ( and that is a lot of stuff) I'm starting with this one, so let's see how this goes. :)
> 
> I'm just going to leave my tumblr here:  
> from-planet-gallifrey


	12. Coming Clean May Not Be the Best Idea...

Silence. The room was so quiet that every heartbeat pounded in Derek's ears and the betas' quick breaths went straight to his head. He could feel the tension hanging in the air and Maddy's nervousness pouring off of her as she sat next to Lydia at the opposite side of the table.

The phone lay useless in Ethan's hand as he stood looking at Derek wearing a dumbfounded expression on his face. "What?" Derek asked him looking around the room. "What the Hell are you guys staring at me like that for?"

"Seriously, Derek" Ethan started. "I don't mean to over step my beta boundaries, but are you fucking stupid?" Derek's eyes glowed red as Ethan continued. "Derek. We just can't tell our parents that my  _werewolf_ boyfriend and his pack saved Aiden and I from a cloud of goddamn  _mist_. And then, woo- they'll really love this part. I guess I'll go on to tell them that we willingly took a bite from an Alpha that made us werewolves too, and that Aiden almost died from it. Yeah. They'll love that and won't try to come kill us. Or you." Ethan's voice started to rise as he inched closer to Derek. "Or the rest of the fucking pack because they'll just accept their only two kids as fucking WEREWOLVES AND THEY'LL LEARN TO LOVE THE PEDOPHILE ALPHA OF A BUNCH OF TEENAGERS. FANTASTIC IDEA, DEREK."

Derek's eyes flashed red again and he growled at Ethan, making him calm down and back off. But Ethan wasn't going to give up. "Are you that stupid? Do you really want us to do that?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper, sounding defeated and spent.

After Derek calmed down a bit, he spoke: "Yeah. That's kind of what I was thinking, but not to that degree." He finished, backing toward Stiles.

"That's fucking nuts!" Aiden exploded. "First, they'll never believe it. Hell, if they do, they would disown us, then have us hunted down and killed and wouldn't stop until they had everyone of us dead."

Stiles took Derek's hand and drug him away from the group. "Derek, you know as well as I do that this plan is crazy. Nothing good will come out of this, especially if you get locked up because no one will be able to get the Midnight Man. All it would do is make thinks worse."

"Probably. But Stiles, I don't know what else to do. I've never had to deaL with all of this before." Derek lowered his voice, "If Laura were here, she'd know what to do. I'm no good at this Alpha thing."

"Am I the only one who can see what the solution is here?" Maddy asked, throwing her hands in the air from frustration. "I'm beginning to realize that you guyS over think a lot of things."

"Honey, you haven't even seen the worst of it yet." Lydia said, patting Maddy's arm. "Just wait and see."

"Well," Aiden pried. "Tell us what we're so obviously missing."

Maddy rubbed her face. "Why don't you just, I don't know, tell them that you went to Danny's and Aiden accidentally passed out at Lydia's? Or where ever you go often. I'm pretty sure that's a hell of a lot less drastic than outing yourselves to you parents. Or in Ethan's case... again."

The room stopped what they were doing to stare at Maddy. Ethan stopped pacing in front of Danny and Aiden looked hopefully over to Derek, expecting him to say something about her comment. But Derek only stared at her with wonder. Stiles crept up behind him, "It could work, Derek. Why don't we try?" He asked, pulling Derek from his thoughts.

"Okay. We'll try." He turned to Aiden. "Call your parents. Tell them that you both passed out at Danny's." Aiden and Ethan left to do just that, leaving the remaining pack to deal with Derek.

"When are Scott and the rest going to be back?" Maddy asked, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl nonchalantly. "Shouldn't they be here by now?" 

Derek turned to her, staring her down until she looked up from the fruit. Lydia took notice of Derek's rising anger and slowly rose from her seat. "Derek, what's wrong."

"Why does it seem that no one knows this girl? Isn't that convenient?" Derek answered without breaking his glare.

"What?" Maddy asked, confused on what was happening.

"Who are you?" Derek countered at her. He went around the table and grabbed her arm, pulling her up from her seat. The apple dropped to the floor, making a soft crushed sound. Derek got into her face, his grip tightening on her. "Tell me who you are!"

Maddy was in tears. "I don't understand what's happening! I'm nobody!"

"Let her go!" Lydia yelled at him, trying to break his grip on her. 

"Derek!" Stiles yelled at him, pulling him from a trance. "What the hell are you doing?!"

His grip broke and Maddy dropped to the floor with Lydia desperately trying to pull her away from him and help her to her feet. Derek staggered back and looked to Stiles, who looked completely disappointed and confused. "Why- what-Stiles?"

Stiles slowly walked up to him with his hand outstretched toward him. "Derek, what did you just do?" he asked when he reached him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Derek looked back at him, absolutely broken. "I don't know." He finally answered. Stiles swallowed him in his arms, looking over to Lydia who was just getting Maddy onto her feet and over to the couch. Everything was all too confusing and surreal to understand what was going on. 

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Silence was never fun for Stiles. He never liked it since he was a kid. During elementary school, when the teacher would make the class sit and read for a half hour, everything was silent with all of the fourth graders caught up in their books and imaginary worlds. But Stiles couldn't handle it. The white noise would get into his head and his thoughts would run wild with what he thinks the kids are saying (plus it didn't help that he had ADHD and couldn't concentrate on his book in the first place). So, he took it upon himself to make sure that the silence was filled by making weird noises with his mouth whenever the teacher turned her back. A little fart noise here, a little raspberry kiss there, and the silence was filled from his classmates' laughter and his teachers yelling. Soon, the reading time was cut down to five minutes. And he lived with that.

Then his mom got sick and he spent most of his time at the hospital with her. He sat by her side while she slept and listened to the slow, constant beeping of her heart monitor and her vitals, the silence was always filled. When she got worse, more machines kept him from his running thoughts and helped his mom live a little longer, so it was a win-win situation. By the the end of the year with his mom in the hospital, he started to miss the quiet. But he didn't mean for the machines to stop. He would've gone a life time listening to the beeps and whistles of the wonderful technology that kept his mom breathing and her heart beating. He didn't mean for them to stop. For the silence to come around again. Because without those devices, the silence was unbearable and so was his mom. This time, instead of the reading limits, his mom's time was cut down and cut off when he heard the sound of the flat line on her monitor. 

So that's why Stiles hated silence and couldn't stand being quiet. It's no different now with Derek flushed into his side on the couch and Maddy and Lydia sprawled on the floor, waiting for Scott and the others to come back from their perimeter check. He finally got Derek to calm down and relax with him after his big freak out on Maddy. Stiles still had no clue what that was all about, and honestly... it was scaring him. The fact that Derek got so out of control, exploding on his own beta- not that she's been around long and everyone should drop their guard, because they shouldn't. The fact of the matter is, she's pack and Derek- or any other member- should never turn on pack. He cannot fathom why Derek would do something like that. It's not like him, especially at a time like this. 

But he did. And Stiles can never forget it.

Ethan and Aiden walked out of the bedroom and plopped down on the smaller sofa after Ethan hung up the phone. Stiles can't even imagine how a phone call like could've gone. The twins looked wrecked and done with life, sinking further into the cushions. 

"That went well." Aiden stated sarcastically, hiding himself behind a throw pillow.

"At least they bought it, Aid." Ethan pointed out, grabbing the pillow from his brother and throwing it on the floor.

Danny walked out of the bathroom, wiping his hands off on his faded jeans. "And it's a good thing they did. Who knows what they would've done if they didn't."

"I think we have already exhausted the scenarios that could've happened. Let's drop it please." Derek mumbled from his spot beside Stiles. 

"Sourwolf is right. Let's just stop talking about it until we can bring everyone up to speed." Stiles got closer to Derek and whispered in his ear. "Can you not sleep?"

Derek got into an upright position and pulled Stiles flushed against his body, leaning his head on his. "How can I? My mind keeps going to what I did. Stiles. How could I have done such a thing?"

"You didn't know what you were doing, Derek." He placed a hand on his boyfriend's chest in a hope to console him. "It's not your fault. We're all on edge here so crazy things happen to relieve some stress. It's okay."

"No it's not, Stiles." Derek said, grabbing Stiles' hand and turning them until they were face to face. "I got out of control. My wolf took over and I couldn't do a thing. It was like I was stuck in my body while I watched myself grab my beta and hurt her. It was horrible." Derek looked down at their intertwined hands and dropped his voice. "I just wanted to stop... and I couldn't. I was utterly helpless and weak." 

Stiles lifted his chin until they locked eyes. "Listen to me, Derek Hale, and you listen good. We are going to figure this out and fix this. Then when we do, we are going to stop the fucker that killed a member of our pack. We are going to kill it and make sure that no one will get hurt ever again.

"And after all of that. We are going to get a house together; big enough that the whole pack and then some can sleep in it comfortably. And dammit, Derek, we're gonna get married. Maybe adopt a few kids and build a family. 

"But until then," Stiles placed both of his hands onto Derek's face. "We gotta get our shit together and focus because I'm really looking forward to having a little Maya and Justin running around."

"Justin?"

"Okay maybe Michael?"

Derek's eyebrows perked up, "Michael? As in after my dad?"

Stiles looked down sheepishly at his pants, picking at the rip. "Yeah. I mean, we don't have to. I just thought it would be cool if the name had some meaning. Sure we could name him something unpronounceable like something from my mom's Polish side. But I think he'd get picked on less with Michael. If you don't wanna that's fine-"

"Stiles." Derek said, cutting his rambling off. "I would love to have Michael and Maya as our kids. It's great. Really."

A smile covered his face as he looked back into Derek's eyes. "Great. So its settled. We stay alive long enough to get Maya and Michael?"

"Yeah. I like the sound of that."

Stiles smile got even wider and covered Derek's lips with his own. When he pulled back he got serious. "We're going to figure this out, okay?"

"Okay." Derek told him, kissing him again.

Stiles heard a groan come from Aiden, pulling him from the world of Derek he transported to.

"Shut up." Derek warned, chucking a pillow at him. He just dodged it and rolled to the floor next to Lydia.

"Oh no you don't." Lydia said, getting onto her feet. "You do not get to use me as cover." Then she picked up a pillow of her own and hit Aiden in the back. "ATTACK!" she yelled. And with that, pillows were being thrown from every direction with Aiden as their target.

Stiles stayed where he was on the couch, watching the scene play out. Aiden was in a fetal position on the floor as Ethan and Danny pounded him with pillows. Maddy and Lydia were standing behind them handing them pillows when theirs tore. Even Derek was having fun with his betas.

There was a sense of what they could get out of a domestic life. Stiles hoped that one day this could be a norm for them. But he knew it wouldn't happen because nothing good can ever happen to them. They attract evil. He can tell something very bad will happen before this is over. And he hopes he's wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I say this almost every time I'm done with a chapter but... I reallllly hoped you liked this chapter! I know its been forever since I updated, but its summer now and I can focus on getting this finished when I don't have work.
> 
> Hopefully I will have the next chapter up soon.
> 
> As always I'm on Tumblr. (From-planet-gallifrey) stop on by if you wanna talk :)


	13. When the Dominoes Come Crashing Down

Scott, Isaac, Erica, Jackson, and Boyd stood at the edge of the clearing, watching the Beacon Hills police force scan the woods. Cars with red and blue lights aligned the road leading to the preserve. Scott gave the signal to spread out and cover the area. With a flick of his wrist, they split into groups; Isaac with Scott and Boyd with Erica and Jackson. They made soft, swift movements to get to better areas to see everything. Once they were in position, Scott was ready to take recon. He let out a low howl to the other group and moved closer to the start of the tree line, the others following suit.

It seamed like every car from the county was out there. He could see Stiles' dad at the head of the group, trying to calm everyone down. It must not have been working well, if the twins' parents exploding on him was anything to go by. Scott wished he could go out there and help him, let a werewolf be on his side, but he didn't think that would be the best idea.

The Carvers got into the Sheriff's face and his deputies were trying their best to get them away from him. Then a ringtone broke through all of the voices and everyone stilled. Mrs. Carver took her ringing phone out of her purse and broke down crying when she saw the caller ID. Mr. Carver caught her and held her while the Sheriff gave them the phone.

Scott waited patiently where he was to hear the conversation. It was Ethan talking, reassuring his parents that him and his brother were OK. They were safe and out of danger. Most importantly, they haven't been at the house since their parents left. "I love you"s were shared then, parents hung up the phone and held onto each other, crying with relief. The Beacon Hills police force stayed behind while the rest of the police cars vanished.

Isaac fished out his phone from his pocket and dialed Derek's number and told him where they were, what happened, and that they were on the way back to the house then hung up.

Scott gave two short, low howls and the others met up with them at the starting spot. "We're all good, we can go home now." Scott told them all. They were about to head home when he stopped them, "Wait." He said, watching his breath turn into smoke then disappear.

"Shit," Erica muttered.

They all ran back toward the clearing just in time to see the Carvers fall to the forest floor with loud thuds. Most of the deputies were to stunned that a cloud of black mist came out of nowhere and tore the Carvers hearts out of their bodies to do anything. So they stood, frozen in their tracks and utterly helpless to the will of the Midnight Man as it tore through their bodies as well.

"Sheriff, look out!" Scott called out to him.

The Sheriff turned his attention to Scott and the others, trying shoo them away. With that distraction, it gave the Midnight Man enough time to tear one more heart out before he left for the night with an deafening shriek. Everything was in slow motion to Scott. The Sheriff looked at him so confused on what happened. He fell to his knees then toppled to the ground, hitting it softly. Scott tried to run to him but Isaac was holding him back, petting his head as he cried. They both collapsed to the floor and Boyd and Erica stood around them, making sure nothing came at them while Scott grieved.

There were so many people dead that night. Beacon Hills just lost their only protection against anything and the most respected Sheriff they've ever had. And the Midnight Man claimed them all, like it was playing God and they weren't needed anymore.

It seemed liked forever has passed before Scott let Isaac drag him to his feet. The four of them made their way over to the massacre, the over baring stench of blood over powered their senses. What were they supposed to do with all of these bodies? There were too many to cover up and too many to hide. It would take all night for the pack to dig graves for them, but what about their families? Who is going to tell them?

Scott looked around at the scene and grasped Isaac's hand as they went over to the Sheriff's body. Boyd, Jackson, and Erica took notice of it but didn't say anything. The Sheriff was already pale, lying in his blood. Scott bent down and placed a hand on his badge. "I'm so sorry I couldn't have saved you, Sheriff. This is all my fault." He looked around at everything. It was a mess, it reeked of death and pain and Scott couldn't let Stiles' dad lay in it. "We gotta get him out of here." he looked over to the Carvers. "Them, too."

He slid his hand underneath the Sheriff's body and carefully picked him up and started to carry him bridal style back to the house. Boyd grabbed Mr. Carver and Isaac grabbed Mrs. Carver while Erica led the way. Jackson would switch with Isaac and Boyd when they got tired. He tried to take the Sheriff from Scott but he growled at him when the Sheriff was touched, so he backed down.

Slowly, but carefully, they made it back.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Stiles and Derek slept on the couch while the others researched and watched movies. They were all waiting for Isaac, Jackson, Boyd, Scott, and Erica to arrive back from the perimeter check after Isaac called them a half an hour ago. They should have been back a while ago, but Stiles doesn't want to upset anyone by bringing that fact up.

"You know that I can tell that you're upset right?" Derek asked, stirring on the couch next to him. "You may be able to hide your emotions from the rest of the pack, but you can't hide them from me. Talk to me."

"I don't want to make everyone upset by saying anything. So I won't." Stiles told him and lowers his voice. "Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it, and I don't think the pack will be able to recover from it."

Derek pulled Stiles closer to him, "We can get through anything. We'll be fine."

"You don't know that." he whispered.

"I do-" his sentence was cut short by Erica bursting through the door. "What the hell? What's wrong?" he yelled, jumping to his feet.

"You need to come outside," she said. She was a wreck; her hair askew, clothes caked with mud. When she noticed that no one was moving she yelled again. "NOW!"

The pack followed her out the door and down the steps where they found the others laying three bodies on the ground. Scott looked up at Stiles, pain evident on his face, he couldn't look him in the eye. Stiles watched Scott slowly back away from the body he placed on the ground with Isaac. Before he could get a good look at who it was, Ethan's and Aiden's screams broke the silence. They were crouched next to two people on the ground, crying. It was their parents. Lydia was pulling Aiden against her chest and Danny was dragging Ethan up from the ground, both trying to console their mates. Jackson inched closer to Maddy.

Maddy walked up to Stiles and grabbed his forearm, "I know is hard, but it'll get better. My family was murdered. It was unfair 'coz they were good people, never did anything wrong. Then someone drains them of their- everything they know. And then  _poof_ they're gone." Stiles stared at her confused.

Derek came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder, then pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry." he mumbled against his shirt.

Stiles pulled back from him and looked him in the eyes, "Why are you sorry?" he asked. "I can't even imagine what their going through. To lose both of their parents, to become an orphan-" while he was saying this, he turned around to see Scott. But his eyes landed on the figure at the bottom of the steps. Light was reflecting off of the man's badge. His dad's badge. He didn't have to imagine what the twins were going through because he was going through it too. His dad is dead, lying on the hard ground with a hole in his chest.

He ran down the rest of the steps and collapsed next to his father. The last family he ever had. "Dad?" he squeaked out as a tear rolls down his cheek. "Dad. Wake up, please, I need you." He starts to shake his father as he cries harder. "Please, dad! Wake up, you're the only family I got. You can't leave me, too!" The pack formed a wall behind him, blocking out the world. "Dad, please!" his voice raised considerably, making Derek flinch behind him. "Dad." He said, broken. He let his head fall onto his dad's and stayed like that while he cried.

When he was done, he unclipped the Sheriff's badge from his bloody uniform shirt and let Derek lead him back into the house, then up the stairs to their room. Derek drew a bath, undressed him, and let them both sink into the water, resting Stiles on his chest- still clutching the filthy piece of metal.

Once their skin was prune-like, Derek dragged them out of the tub and tenderly dried them off. He led him to the room and slipped him into a pair of boxers and one of his Henley's. After he dressed himself, he drug Stiles onto the bed and crawled up against him until they were chest to back and flushed against one another. Eventually they both fell asleep like that, and stayed that way through the night with Stiles numb from crying and still holding on to his dad's badge for his life.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

When Derek awoke, Stiles was sitting against he headboard with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs. He glanced at him then went back to staring at the wall. "You know," he started. "When my mom died, my dad told me that everything was going to be OK and that nothing bad was going to happen, that it was us against the world. Six months may have passed after he told me that, and then I was terrified that I was going to lose him too. He was only a deputy at the time, but was still in _so much danger_. I told him, that I was gonna lose him, and he told me- he said 'Son. You will never lose me. Not even when I'm old and starting to grey and on my fifth heart attack. I will always be alive and there for you. 'Cause it's us against the world, kid, and it's gonna stay that way.'"

He chuckled, a cold hard laugh that gave Derek goosebumps. "Yeah, right. Us against the world... It will never be 'us against the world' because he had to go and get himself sheriff and put himself between bad guys and good guys and try to help everyone." He turned to Derek. "He could stop anything, Derek. He stopped a robber at the bank, he was held a gun point for fifteen hours and still took that guy down. He's done _so many things_ , he's stopped everything that came his way." His voice broke and a tear slipped from his eye. "Except a fucking cloud of mist. He couldn't stop that one and look where it got him. On the dirt at the bottom of our steps." He covered his face in his hands and buried his head by his knees.

"Oh, Stiles." Derek said, sitting up and pulling Stiles close to him. "Everything is going to be OK."

"No it's not, Derek." he said, wrapping his arms around his waist. "I told you something very bad was going to happen, and it did. I predicted this and I did nothing about it."

"Stiles, You couldn't have done anything, you didn't know it was going to be like this." Derek mumbled into his flat hair.

They cuddled like that for a few more minutes until Derek decided it was time for them to get up. "C'mon. Let's go get something to eat." Stiles didn't move from where he was, he just wrapped the comforter around him and buried himself deeper into the bed.

"No." Derek heard him say. "I'm not going to leave. I cannot get out of this bed, I refuse."

Derek inwardly sighed and pulled the poor excuse for a blanket from Stiles, then bent down and whispered in his ear. "C'mon, Adderal Addict. Let's go catch the fucker that stole your dad away from you and took our pack's peace. And like you said: We'll figure this out."

Before he knew what was happening, Stiles leaped from the bed, throwing his arms around Derek's neck, fiercely kissing him. "Thanks, Sourwolf. Let's go end this.

The two made their way down the steps after they changed into jeans and new shirts. The pack was scattered around the living room, all of them grieving in their own way. When Stiles reached the bottom step, Scott perked up and pried himself from Isaac to tackle Stiles in a bear hug. Stiles staggered back a bit, but Derek was there to keep him stable, rolling his eyes at their display of affection. "I'm so sorry, dude." Scott mumbled into his neck.

"It's okay, buddy. Would you mind telling me what happened?" Stiles asked him quietly.

Scott nodded and led them to the dinning table. They sat down and soon the rest of the pack joined them. He took a deep breath and told them what happened, choking on his words when he talked about Stiles' father, then getting really angry when talking about the Midnight Man. Once he was done the whole pack had tear stains on their cheeks, even Boyd who never cries. "I'm really sorry you had to go through that, Scott. And I'm so sorry for your loss, guys." Stiles said to Ethan and Aiden. "But lets stop this once and for all. I'm so tired of all of this shit. From now on no one gets hurt. No more people die, okay?" The pack nodded their agreements. "Great. But first we need to bury our loved ones."

"Uh. I already did that last night," Boyd said, looking down at his hands. "Next to Allison and the others."

"Thanks, Boyd. Really, that means a lot." Stiles said with a small smile on his face. "Okay, then let's do some research."

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

The pack broke apart, all with different things to do. Some were cooking everyone food, some were training the betas, some were doing research, and others were making weapons. Lydia and Stiles volunteered for research duty and have been on the computer and books for what seemed like hours. They were hitting dead end after dead end before he decided to plug the Beastiary flash drive into his lap top and look there. And after a half hour, he came across a section dedicated to the Midnight Man. He thanked the Gods and set to reading. 

What he read made him sick. This whole chapter was about how you control the Midnight Man, meaning it was never free. Someone made it kill all of those people on purpose. He read on.

There was a paragraph on how one can control it, but there were rules. The person controlling it had to be a loner, someone that no one would suspect. Innocent until they murder. They had to have no ties to the human world. Someone who can easily trick another. There was a spell that required blood of an innocent, and a lot of it. Plus many other ingredients that Stiles has never seen before. This spell would bind the Midnight Man to the person through an ancient object. This object could be anything and disguised as anything. Once you bound it to you, you had to give it someone to kill. If you didn't let it kill, it would kill you. But it always killed you in the end. 

Then he read something wonderful and exactly what he needed to read: The object that the Midnight Man is bound through can be broken. If it is broken, then the Midnight Man would cease to exist. He would be wiped out of history and so would everything that it has done will be too. It can reverse everything. Meaning Stiles dad, Allison, and everyone else would be alive again. 

Stiles racked his brain with this new information. He ran through everything that has happened in the last week. Everything seemed normal. Then it clicked, Maddy. She was the odd one out. The way she just showed up out of no where, got under their skin. Made them trust her and feel for her.

A loner, someone innocent with no ties to the human world. Someone they wouldn't think of.  _"I have no one to care that I'm gone." "No, you shouldn't know me.""I'm not from around here, that's for certain. I drift around a lot so I don't stay in one place too often."_

The spell required a lot of innocent blood.  _"My family was murdered. It was unfair 'coz t_ _hey were good people, never did anything wrong. Then someone drains them of their- everything they know."_

The ingredients that Stiles didn't recognize.  _"...One of my friends heard through the grape vine that the veterinarian here has a lot of cool stuff. Then he told me that this place has different vintage things, like ancient things. He said that a lot of stuff I need would be here because this town has been around for so long..."_

Someone that can easily trick another.  _"Why does it seem that no one knows this girl?!"_ _"I don't understand what's happening! I_ _'m nobody."_

An ancient object disguised as anything.  _She had a beautiful necklace around her neck, an arrow type shape- almost an upside down cartoon Christmas tree, bouncing while she suffers for shallow breaths. She's beautiful and familiar with every detail screaming at Jackson to remember her, but he can't._ _  
_

If you didn't let it kill, it would kill you. _"It's like they were arguing, it tried to kill her."_

Stiles head snapped up from the book. "Shit."

"What?" Lydia asked.

He turned to her, "Where's Maddy?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I killed the sheriff... it just needed to happen to move this story along. I may have killed the sheriff but I didn't kill the deput- wait. I killed them too. Heh. My bad. 
> 
> Anyway, I'm hoping I can have this story finished up in a couple of chapters. :) Hopefully I'll get this done before July. So that means I have over a month to finish it, I think that can happen. 
> 
> Welp. I'm on tumblr if you wanna stop by ( from-planet-gallifrey ) come check me out. XD Until next week!


	14. Where the Road Comes to an End

Maddy. It was her all along. Why didn't Stiles see this before? All of the signs where there, screaming in his face. He could've ended this before his dad had to die. He turned to a worried Lydia, "You have to trust me, okay? Do you trust me?" Lydia nodded, and Stiles slid his laptop over to her, and put a finger to his lips then pointed to his ears. Maddy was outside training with Derek, Jackson, and the twins, but he wanted to be careful that she didn't hear and try to run.

He watched Lydia read over the information, her face showing her thought process. "It was her," she whispered to him. 

He just nodded and stood from the table, crossed the room and fished a pen and notebook out of his old backpack he discarded in Derek's living room after graduation. Back at the table he wrote  _WE CAN STOP HER, LYDIA. WE HAVE TO._ and slid it over to her. _  
_

She took it and scribbled something down on the paper then walked over to Erica, Danny, and Boyd in the kitchen. They were happily singing along to[People Like Me on the radio](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACRUD11dGp4) and preparing the food. Lydia placed a hand on Boyd's shoulder and set the notebook on the counter so they all could see. They stilled, nodded their head, but continued to chop the food.

Next, she went over to Isaac and Scott in the living room who were putting together makeshift weapons for everyone with the information Stiles printed out for them. She calmly placed the notebook on the coffee table where they were working then walked to the other side, waiting for them to read it. Scott bolted from his seat, making his way to the door. Boyd was there in an instant blocking his way outside. Stiles ran up to him, he and Lydia pulling him back to the couch. Isaac and Lydia held him down while Stiles whispered to him, "Scott, buddy, listen to me." Scott calmed down a little and gave his attention to Stiles. "Hey. You need to calm down. She can't know we know, okay? This has to stay quiet or she'll get the hell out of dodge. We can do this, bud. But you gotta  _calm down_."

Scott took deep breaths and soon they let go of him. Erica peaked out the window to the others and gave them a nod. They were still training. Stiles had to buy them some time, but how. Derek and the others needed to know that they were out there with a maniac. That they were in danger. He sat down next to Scott who held his head in his hands. "What are we going to do?" Scott mumbled to him.

Stiles ran his through his hair, "I don't know buddy. I just don't." After a few minutes with just the radio blasting in the background, Stiles stood and crossed the room. "I gotta tell Derek. He has to know." He turned back to face them, Boyd was sitting in the recliner with Erica in his lap. Isaac was trying to comfort Scott on the couch, trying to coax him out of his hands. Lydia was pacing in front of the TV, from the dining chair to the couch, from the chair to the couch, chair to couch. "Everyone stay calm, but be on guard. This could get ugly fast." With that he opened the door and crossed the threshold.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

It was a nice day. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold; it was kind of perfect, and perfect for training. Derek was happy for once because he was getting to train his new betas and they were making progress with the Midnight Man. Though everything wasn't perfect with Stiles, with him grieving over his dad. And he knows that he should be by his side and be a good boyfriend and help him with his grieving process, but the smell was to much. It over powered everything inside Derek and it just stayed in his senses, unwilling to leave. But if he took a whiff of the air, he could forget about it for a short time and breath in all the nature smells; the trees, the grass, the flowers by his house that Lydia insisted they planted. He could escape for a couple seconds until the irony smell of blood drifted in and he was reminded of what happened. Of what he let happen. 

But he couldn't let himself focus on that right now. Right now, he had to get his betas prepared to fight. That's his job. The others are inside doing god knows what and he needs to be out here. 

"Okay guys," he started, turning to his betas and resting his hands behind his back. "Who wants to go first?" Jackson stepped forward, cocky as can be. "Jackson, you know how this works, so why don't you let one of the others go first?"

Jackson rolled his eyes, "Derek, shut up and fight me. Wait, unless you're scared and that's why you want an incompetent fighter so you can feel better about yourself."

Derek shook his head and pulled his shirt over his head, "Bring it on, Whittemore." Jackson charged at him, aiming for his legs. Derek easily dodged it, grabbing him by his waist and using his momentum against him and flipping him over throwing him on his back with little effort. Jackson landed on the ground with a loud _thud_ and an _oof_. Derek turned back to the rest, replacing his hands behind his back. "And that, guys, is what you don't do. Any questions?"

Aiden looked to Ethan, Ethan looked to Maddy, and Maddy stared at Jackson. The three of them glanced back at Derek and burst into laughter. "Hey!" Jackson cried from the ground, still on his back from his defeat. Derek just rolled his eyes at all of them and helped him to his feet, he slapped him on his back and sent him back to the group. "It was harder than it looked," he muttered, rubbing the back od his neck.

"Jackson, that was pathetic and you know it, now step in line." Jackson stalked to his place next to Maddy, looking at the ground the whole time. Maddy, who was two feet shorter, looked up at him and playfully punched him in the arm. He lifted his head and gave her a soft smile, running his hand through his spiked hair. They were cute, dare Derek say. Jackson looked at her with the same kind of fondness he once looked at Lydia with when he thought no one was watching. He might be falling in love with her through all of this sadness. Derek's glad he's getting a life out of this, Maddy's good for him and he sure is kinder when she's around and that really benefits the pack. "So, who's next?"

Maddy jumped, scooting away from Jackson, whose thumb was brushing dirt from her cheek. Jackson dropped his hand to his side and rolled his head to Derek. "I'll go," Ethan offered stepping forward.

"Okay, Ethan. Try not to do what Jackson did. Okay. Ready-"

"Derek?" Stiles called from the base of the steps. "Can I talk to you... alone?"

Derek straightened from his crouch in front of Ethan and gave his attention to Stiles, "Of course." As he was walked away, he yelled back, "Jackson, teach them something and don't screw it up." He jogged up to Stiles and grabbed his hand, "What's wrong?"

Stiles' eyes flickered to the group and back to Derek, "Uh, it's about my dad. I'm just really depressed and I needed someone to talk to."

Derek cupped Stiles' chin, "Then let's talk."

His eyes went back to the group where Maddy was throwing Jackson onto his back again. He looked back at him, "I just, I don't want them to hear." Derek looked at him confused, what was so important that he couldn't say it in front of pack? Stiles lowered his voice, "This pain is still so fresh and I don't know if I can talk about it knowing they're listening. Please," he added. Derek felt like all of the emotion was put into that one word. He looked so vulnerable and delicate; everything out in the open for Derek to see.

"Yes. Yeah, let's go for a walk." Derek decided, taking his hand again and leading him toward the forest. They walked in silence for a while, listening to the crunch of the leaves beneath their feet. Birds chirped above their heads, landing on branches beside them. Derek feels like this conversation isn't going to be good for them and it's going to bring unwanted complications for the pack. "I think we're good now," Derek said, slowing down next to Stiles after he stopped hearing his betas in the yard. "Let's talk."

Stiles looked around then went into panic mode. "Derek, you have to listen to me. Maddy is not what you think, okay? She is evil, _literal evil."_

Derek stared at him incredulously, "Stiles, what are you talking about? Maddy is fine."

"No, Derek, she's not." He said, putting his hands on his chest. "She is behind all of this, you have to trust me. Please, she killed Allison, my dad and everyone else. Derek, I know she's part of your pack but we need to stop her. Now."

"Wait... didn't we come here to talk about your dad? Isn't that why we are out here? I listened to your heart, it didn't jump."

"Well, yes," Stiles said exasperated. "I am upset, but that's not what we're- DEREK. Listen to me! Listen to my heart! We need to stop her, don't you understand?"

Derek listened for the uptick in Stiles' heart but he couldn't find one. He was telling the truth. "OK. What do we now?"

Stiles ran a hand through his hair, stopping on his forehead. "I don't know," he said, shaking his head. "The book said something about breaking the object that bound the Midnight Man to her."

"Wait, object? What object?" Derek asked, his eyebrows drawing together. "Stiles, you're going to have to bring me up to speed. I wasn't with you the last hour so I don't know what you found out." Stiles tried to form words, his mouth opening and closing with nothing coming out. He looked up at Derek, pleading with his amber eyes. He was having a panic attack. Derek grabbed him and they safely sank to the forest floor. "Breathe, Stiles, breathe." He cooed, petting the back of his head, trying to coax him back to the present. Slowly, Stiles' breaths evened out and he came back to him.

They rested like that for a few minutes, waiting for Stiles to be ready to talk. Stiles looked up at him through his eye lashes, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, no," Derek said, tightening his grasp on him. "There is _nothing_ to be sorry about. These things happen, and that's just something we're going to have to deal with. And we can deal with it. But don't ever apologize for this."

Stiles looked at him, reaching to cup his jaw. He put a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. "Thank you." He whispered when they pulled away.

"Anytime," Derek said, helping them to their feet. "Let's go figure this out."

"Wait, we need to tell Jackson and the twins."

Shit. Jackson. He didn't even think about how he was going to handle this. He and Maddy were getting so close the past week and he was beginning to think they were mates. He's going to be crushed. Maddy. How could she do this? Pry her way into their life, fool them into trusting her, becoming pack. She's part of the pack, she's his beta, dammit. What the hell are they supposed to do?

"Derek?" Stiles asked, pulling him from his thoughts. He was a few feet ahead of him, so Derek had to jog to catch up. "We have to act like we don't know, or she'll run. Keep it cool okay?" He nodded, taking his hand in his and walking back.

When they reached the others, they found Jackson on the ground, Aiden straddling him. Ethan and Maddy were behind them, laughing until they cried. They looked up when Derek and Stiles came closer, Aiden scrambling off of Jackson and Jackson angrily getting to his feet. Maddy and Ethan stiffened and tried to act casual in their Alpha's presence. "I see you haven't permanently damaged their fighting skills, Jackson. Gold star for you." Derek said, moving to stand in front of them.

"Ha. Ha." Jackson droned, falling back in line.

Derek stared at them, his hand in Stiles', trying to come up with how to bring this up. He looked at Maddy and his gaze fell to her necklace. He let go of his mate's hand and walked over to Maddy, picking up the strange object. "This is a nice necklace you have," he commented. "Where did you say you got it?"

She stiffened and Derek looked at her knowingly. A smug smile came to her face, "I didn't. I got it from my great... grandparent. On my mother's side."

 _Wow,_ Derek thought, _This girl's great at improv._ He looked her in the eyes, his eyebrows raised. "Your great grandparent on your mother's side?"

"Yes," she answered, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. "Why?"

"Oh," Derek said, dropping the object and taking a step back. "It's just that my great, great, grandfather on _my_ mothers side also had a necklace like this at one point."

Her face scrunched together like she just smelled something awful. "Nuh-uh, you're lying!" she accused, pointing a finger at him.

By then the rest of the pack was outside, standing behind Stiles and watching everything unfold. Derek baby-stepped toward her, his eyebrows showing so much, it's like they spoke for him. "So can detect lying. Interesting." Another step, "Tell me again, where did you get the necklace?" Step. "And, please, no more lies."

"I- I-" she stammered, backing away from the group. Danny appeared behind her, grabbing her by the biceps. "Hey!" she yelled at him crying, "Let me go!"

Derek yelled right in her face, "TELL ME!" his eyes burning red, and morphing a little.

Then it was like time stood still. The wind halted, the birds stopped chirping, and there wasn't a sound to be heard. The air felt stale against his skin as the sky went dark, a mixture of blue, grey, and green. "The calm before the storm," Derek muttered to himself.

Maddy's crying stopped. She looked up at Derek in Danny's grasp and tsked at him, "Poor, little Derek. Couldn't just leave things alone, could you? You had to go and mess up my plan, ruining all of the fun."

"What fun?" Stiles spat at her, slinking up behind Derek.

She ignored him, "Now, tell me, Derek. How did you find me out?" she asked him calmly. His hand found Stiles' and he held on tight. She noticed and turned her attention to him, "So your little slut told you, huh? Good to know."

Derek growled at her, the rest of the pack falling behind him.

"Calm down, big bad wolf. You're not going to hurt me."

"And why's that?" he asked through his fangs.

She looked at him like he was the dumbest thing, "Oh, honey. Because I'm the only one who can stop this."

"You're lying," Lydia said, taking a defiant step away from the group and toward Derek and Stiles.

"Honey, listen to my heart. If I was lying, would I do this..." her eyes rolled into her head until only the white parts showed. Incoherent mumbles left her lips and soon the sky was darker and everyone was cold. Before a warning could be cried out, Lydia collapsed to the dirt with an all to familiar hole in her chest. Derek's wolf felt the loss of another pack member. Stiles cried out Lydia's name before he fell to his knees beside her. Derek wanted to console his mate, but he also wanted to rip Maddy's throat out with his teeth. Danny's grip on her loosened just enough for her to wiggle her arm out, elbow Danny in the nose, and bolt into the forest.

Everything was chaotic. Danny was on his knees holding his nose, Stiles, Erica, and Aiden were at Lydia's side. Scott, Boyd, and Ethan stood behind Derek ready to fight. Then there was Jackson who was staring at Maddy's disappearing figure, his face blank and hurt.

Derek didn't waste anymore time. He wasn't going to let her get away with this, after so many dead, he was going to end it. He set off full blast after her.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

She's gone. Lydia's gone, just like everyone else. Her beautiful strawberry blonde hair crumpled underneath her limp head. Her mouth was open in shock and her hazel eyes staring past Stiles to the dull sky. She was getting paler by the minute with her blood pouring out of the hole in her chest. All the life inside her was gone. Everything that she could have done was blown away. She could have saved the world with a toss of her hair, but all of that and more was gone; because someone took it from her. Maddy took it from her. That evil bitch from hell took Lydia "I'm-too-smart-for-you" Martin from this world and she's going to pay.

Stiles was angry to say the least. He gently petted her head and closed her eyes before he raised from his knees to look for Maddy. She took too much from them and now everything will come crashing down on her. She doesn't stand a chance against the Hale pack.

He looked around. Derek was already gone, so was Boyd, Ethan, and Scott. Jackson was staring at the woods. Stiles ran up to him, "Jackson, where did they go?"

He said nothing.

"Jackson! What the hell?"

He still stared ahead, so Stiles did what any sane person in this situation would do; he slapped him. And, really, that's all it took. Jackson jumped from his haze and turned his anger on Stiles. "Stilinski! What the fuck! Never slap me again."

Stiles looked at him incredulously, "Me, what the fuck _me?_ " He pointed to himself and Jackson nodded, "Are you fucking kidding me, Jackson? Lydia just died and my mate and best friend went off to their possible deaths and you're 'what the fucking' me?"

"...Lydia died?" he asked, his voice so small it was like he was a five year old.

He didn't know. All the anger in Stiles left him and he pulled Jackson into a hug, "Yeah. I'm sorry, man, I am. But we don't have time for you to go zoning out on us right now." He held him at arm's length. "We need to kill her, Jackson. Get fucking angry, cause we need to find her and kill her." He turned to the group after he successfully angered Jackson enough, "Guys, we can mourn later but we need to fight now. We let this bitch get under our skin, into our pack. She crossed the dammed line," he paused so he could look everyone in the eyes. "So how bout we join the rest of _our pack_ and kill this motherfucker? She needs to know that she messed with the wrong pack."

Isaac shifted first. Erica followed, pulling her hair into a messy bun. Danny cracked his neck and let his fangs loose in sync with Aiden. Stiles turned to Jackson, already wolfed out. The betas fanned out behind him, growling ferociously. Stiles ran over to his jeep, grabbing his bag from the back seat, then quickly ran back to the head of the group. It was like a scene in a movie before the heroes win. And it was beautiful.

**X-X-X-X-X-X**

Derek couldn't count how many branches he ran into chasing after her. Every single scratch he would get would heal so fast and he'd get a another somewhere else the previous one would be forgotten. He was so numb, nothing mattered more than catching her. She wasn't that far ahead of him either, he could catch up if he just pushed a little harder. But he was already pushing his limits. The only way he could go faster was succumbing to his wolf and that would mean losing all control.

He hurdled a fallen log but tripped going down the hill, giving her more distance. He dragged himself up and set off running again. He couldn't let her get away. She killed Stiles' dad, his beta, and the best pack member Derek has ever had. She ripped apart their lives and she will pay for it, one way or another.

Another log cleared.

A thought occurred to him; she didn't know these woods like his pack, or himself. She didn't grow up running through these trees every full moon. This is his home. This is where he went to clear his mind when Laura pushed every button he had. He passed the cave where he and Cora stayed in for three nights because they were being hunted. Derek survived through so much because of these woods and he knew he would survive them now.

Derek skidded to a halt after he reached the clearing to the cliff that over looked the town. There she was, standing there, dangerously close to the edge, frantically looking for a way out. But the only way out was back the way she came and Derek wasn't going to let her leave. She would have to jump and take her chances with the rocks below to escape his wrath. Boyd, Scott, and Ethan appeared behind him a few minutes later. He could feel their anger radiating off of them and it was fueling his own.

Maddy turned around when she heard Derek take steps toward her. She looked horrible, her hair tangled from the wind and covering her face, her eyes were full of heat and anger. Her true form was coming out and it was an ugly thing."Alpha," she muttered, taking cautious steps toward the wolves.

"Wench," Derek countered.

"Do you really think you have a chance against me? I thought you would give up after I killed that popular, conceded, harlot."

The betas growled and Derek put a hand out to silence them, "Lydia was not a conceded harlot, you would know that if you had a dammed soul."

"If I had a soul?" she asked, putting a hand on her chest and rocking forward. "If you knew what she was like in high school - what any of your beloved 'pack' was like - you'd understand why I am doing this."

Scott growled, "What the fuck are you talking about? We never went to high school together, I would've known if we did."

"No, Scotty, you wouldn't," she flipped her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. "Not if you never paid attention to your classmates. You see, we went to school together since second grade before the last semester of senior year. I was always there, Scott, persistent to making friends with you guys. But you always pushed me away, no matter how hard I tried. You people put me THROUGH HELL." she yelled at them, her voice shaking. She calmed her self, fixing her shirt. "No worries, right? I was just the loser sitting in the back of the class, not worth the time of the populars or even the rejects. But no matter, Scotty Boy, because you don't have to apologize. None of you do, you just need to die. Then we'll be square," she winked at them, then grabbed her necklace, chanting to herself again.

But her mumbles were cut short by an arrow piercing her hand, going straight through. She recoiled, grasping her hand and craddling it to her chest. She put her hand in front of her and broke the arrow, then ripped it clear through with a horrible scream. Throwing it on the ground, she turned back to Derek and the others. "Now," she started, ripping off cloth from her shirt and tying it around her wound to stop the bleeding. "Who is the smart ass that pleasured me with the daMN ARROW THROUGH MY HAND?" Holding her hand in the air for emphasis. 

Another arrow shot past Derek's head, straight into her hand again. Her muffled screams pierced the silence. "MOTHER FUCKER!" She yelled, shaking her hand in an attempt to relieve the pain but just causing her to scream more.

"Actually," a voice called from behind Derek. "This smart ass is a Derek fucker." He winked in Derek's direction, "Hey babe, next time you run off tell me, okay?"

Stiles. Derek looked at him completely amazed, of course it was him. And of  _course_ he would make a sex joke at a time like this. "When did you learn how to shoot like that?" He asked, rushing to his side.

A fond smile creeper across Stiles' face, "Allison taught me last summer. Guess I forgot I could." 

Derek kissed him softly, "I'm glad you found us. Let's get this over with now. C'mon," he quickly kissed him on his temple and grabbed his hand, making their way to the edge where Scott and Boyd held Maddy by the arms, the arrow still in her hand.

The whole pack surrounded her, making sure that she wasn't to get away this time. Derek got into her space, "Now does the Big Bad wanna tell us why she's trying to kill my pack?" She spat in his face, cockily smiling at him. "Guess not. Erica?" 

Erica stepped into the impromptu circle and raised her hand back and swung. "Okay I'll talk!" Maddy yelled attempting to get away from her hand. Erica smiled smugly and went back to her place by Boyd. 

"Good," Isaac started. "Because we aren't the type of pack that tortures people for information. That's another werewolf we know."

"Hey, let's leave my uncle out of this please," Derek warned, his voice rising a bit. Isaac looked at him unapologetically but was unphased by his Alpha's anger. "Talk," he directed toward Maddy. "And make it worth my while." 

Maddy looked up at him then around at the group, her eyes landing on Jackson. "I just wanted friends, a normal life, but someone convinced me that was never going to happen, so I got angry."

"Who?" Ethan asked, crowding closer to Danny. 

"This old man. I don't remember his name, but he was blind and had a British accent, plus he had a helper that didn't wear shoes which was gross because her toenails are super long and sharp-" 

"We don't give a shit about her weird ass toenails. Move on," Boyd urged, cutting her off.

She looked at him sharply, "Anyway, he told me that I could be so much more than a feeble human, powerful beyond imagination. There was just one catch." She caught Derek's eyes, "I had to kill the Hale pack."

Jackson rolled his eyes, "And you bought that garbage? Are you stupid?"

"Hey! I didn't know what else to do okay? He told me how I could get away from this life and strive toward a better one, so I took that road." She started crying, "Then he told me about the Midnight Man, and gave me my first task: kill my family." Scott gasped and she went on, her voice earily calm. "It wasn't that hard, you know. Just a quick slit of the throat over a bucket and, bamb, you got blood of an innocent... Multiple innocents. The way the knife slid into their skin so easily was orgasmic. It was a little awkward at first, there was a lot of squirming. But once I got to my little brother Max, I was a pro. He didn't even see me coming until his Buzz Lightyear footy pajamas were soaked with his blood."

"That's sick," Danny whispered, burring his head into Ethan's shoulder.

"But I got what I wanted!" She defended quickly, her eyes going crazy. "I did a spell to make you guys forget me and summoned the Midnight Man and my opening gate to power. I killed three members of your pack, Derek Hale, and I'll kill the rest, just you wait." She laughed at him.

Derek let go of Stiles and calmly walked up to her once more, "No you won't." He ripped the necklace from her body and tossed it to Stiles.

"Wha- what are you doing?" She asked frantically, trying to break free from Boyd and Scott. "Give it back!"

Stiles swung his backpack from his shoulder and dropped to his knees, pulling out a wooden bowl with carvings around the outer edge. "I read that the blood of the brave and honest and a little pinch of 'fuck you' and a sack of my bat will break the binding spell." He sliced Scott's hand because he knew that he was the only one qualified to fit the title of "brave and honest". He went back to the blowl and ground in some herbs and with a puff of gray smoke it was broken. Stiles dumped the contents onto the dirt and slipped his bat from his bag. Standing up, he took a swing and broke the necklace into pieces. 

The sky went angry for a few seconds, the wind picking up considerably and blowing every direction it could. Then just as quickly as it came, it went, leaving them with a bright blue sky and the sun beating down on them from behind the white clouds. Birds began chirping and every sound of nature was returned to its former glory. Derek smiled to himself, absorbing the sun like he'll never see it again.

"NO!" Maddy yelled, thrashing against her werewolf restraints. 

"Just face it," Aiden said. "You've lost."

"No no no I haven't. Nuhuh. I'll-I'll find another way to kill you all. Just you-you wait." She babled.

"You won't," Derek told her confidently.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because," he said grabbing Stiles' hand. "We may not be the pack that does the torturing thing, but we are the pack that will kill for the protection of this town. You can count on that."

"Awe, sweety, don't look so sad. You probably could have killed a normal pack if you tried." Stiles said patting her on the cheek. "You just messed with the wrong one."

With that, Boyd and Scott dropped her, leaving her to land in a crumpled mess on the forest floor. She watched them stride away into the tree line. "Watch your back! Because I will get you guys. The Hale pack will be no more! Even if I have to die!" She yelled after them, uselessly trying to get the arrow removed from her hand again. 

"Okay!" Derek called back nonchalant. "We'll be waiting!" He wrapped his arm around Stiles and kissed his temple. The smell of triumph filled the air as his pack followed him home. They won.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Allison woke up on Lydia's bedroom floor surrounded in dry blood before she went to Derek's. 

Lydia took her first breath at the edge of Derek's drive way wiping herself off before she went back inside.

The Sheriff, his deputies, and Mr. and Mrs. Carver, came to life in the clearing outside of Beacon Hills County. He calmed them down before leading the parents back to the house and giving his deputies the week off.

Even Greenberg opened his eyes at his parent's house, just in time to watch the ball game with his mom and his step-dad, Coach Finstock.

It was a touching reunion to say the least. Allison contacted her parents and they came out to work things out with Scott. Isaac is still in the picture. Ethan and Aiden explained everything to their parents; they didn't care, as long as they were alive and happy. Lydia, Jackson, and Aiden talked all night. They'll work things out eventually. The Sheriff held on to his crying son and repeated, "It's us against the world, kid."

And as for Derek? He watched his pack mend themselves. Never did he think he would have one as big as now. Even though nothing was perfect and a lot lf things needed time, Derek was completely and utterly happy for the first time in his life. And with his pack behind him and his mate by his side, he felt like he could do anything.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... This chapter was hella long...
> 
> This is the final chapter to this story... besides the epilogue that's coming shortly. So I guess it's not really the final chapter... unless you count epilogues as chapters... then we have one chapter left! But I'm not going to count it as a chapter, so this is the final chapter. 
> 
> I really hoped this all made sense, I tried to add a plot twist and wrap everything up. Leave a comment if you're confused and I'll try to explain it to you or write the confusion better. I don't even think that sentence made sense. I need to stop. 
> 
> Anyway, as always, I'm on MySpace if you wanna- wait. That's not right. I'm on... TUMBLR. That's it ( from-planet-gallifrey ) if you wanna come check me out. Or are just bored. :)


	15. Epilogue

There wasn't much of a warning before Derek was tackled by a small, brown blurr early one Saturday morning. His bed rocked into his wall with the impact, the blurr landing on his groin and successfully waking him from his slumber. He recoiled and pulled his comforter over his head in an attempt to ease the pain. It pulled the blanket down and two big green eyes stared back at him. "Maya, sweetie will you get off of Papa for a bit?" She smiled at him and shook her head. "Go bother Daddy, please." 

She leaned closer to him, "Papa, guess what day it is?" 

Derek faked a confused face, "Christmas?" She shook her head. "Hmmm... Memorial day?" She irritatingly shook her head again. "Oh I got it!" Her eyes widened, a smile creeping on her face. "It's Flag day! Happy Flag day, Maya-laya."

"Papa!" She cried, her eyes flashing gold. "It's my birthday."

He looked at her mock shocked, "No. It couldn't be, that's not for another year!"

"No it's today!" Her face fell and her brown locks covered her eyes, she was in desperate need for a haircut.

"Well," he started, reaching underneath his bed. "Good thing I had this just in case." He drug out a small, blue box with a tiny, red bow on top and handed it to her. "Happy birthday, my sweet." 

She grabbed the box from his hands, screaming giddily. She ripped the paper from the box, leaving it in shreds on the floor, and dove right it. Inside lay a small triskelion pennant attached to a silver chain. She turned it over in her small fingers and read the inscription on the back, "Hale." 

Derek held out his hand and she looked at it cautiously, holding the necklace against her chest protectively. He rolled his eyes at her, "I'm just gonna help you put it on." She stared at him for a few more moments before reluctantly placing it on his palm.

As he unclasped the chain, she held her curly hair in her hand, high and away from her neck. "Now," Derek started. "This necklace belonged to your grandma Talia and her mother before that and her mother before that. It's been passed down to the strongest and eldest cub in the pack for generations. My mom gave it to my sister before she died, and thought it would be fitting to give it to you. You know why?" He asked her.

She shook her head, playing with the pennant that reached to her belly. "Why?" She whispered.

He leaned close, "Because my sister was the strongest and bravest cub, just like you. You both have this need to care for your little brothers and other people. You're kind and smart and won't let anyone push you around. You are the spitting image of her when she was little, my sweet, and don't ever change okay? Because you're perfect, and so was she."

She broke into a wide grin and leaped into Derek's arms, her tiny hands wrapping around his neck and her head settling on her shoulder. "Thank you, Papa. I'll take real good care of it, promise."

"I believe you, Maya," he kissed her temple and stood up with her still wrapped around him. "Now, c'mon, let's go bug Daddy."

She squealed happily in his arms as he carefully made his way down the stairs of the remodeled Hale house. 

It's been almost fifteen years since the pack graduated and they had that horrible summer. After everything died down, he and Stiles finally went on a proper date, Derek proposed after he graduated from Stanford with Lydia. The wedding was simple and only pack came, because those were all that mattered. For the honeymoon, the whole pack helped them rebuild the Hale home to its former glory for three months. It was a great bonding experience for them to say the least. 

Once it was finished, it was big enough to comfortably house everyone. Stiles and Derek had a beautiful master bedroom that over looked the forest that was decorated by Lydia and Allison. In fact, Derek and Stiles had very little say in what looked better in the house ("Because, Stiles, you two have horrible taste in things for gay people." "Sorry, Derek, you just need a women's touch."). And if Derek was being totally honest, they really did a great job with it... though he will never admit it directly to them.

They had pack meetings and bondings and so much sex in that house for a year and a half. Allison, Isaac, and Scott had children, Jayden was Scott and Allison's, P.J. (Peyton James) was Allison and Isaac's, they had an odd relationship, but it worked for them. Lydia and Aiden had twin girls, Ruth and Tara, and they were the cutest little were-gingers Derek has ever seen. Boyd and Erica were trying, and Melissa and the Sheriff got married. The pack was happy but Derek and Stiles knew there was something missing in their lives; children. So that's how they stumbled across the perfect womb to house their child, her name was Olivia and she was a witch. She became part of the pack when everyone was in college, she got herself stuck in the middle of an Alpha pack, the same pack that sent Maddy all those years ago, she helped them defeat them and just stuck. When Derek and Stiles announced that they were thinking about having children, she volunteered right away and the next thing they knew, the doctor said the insemination took and they were on their way to having a baby girl- Maya. Then a boy- Michael. Then twins, a girl and a boy- Claudia and Caleb. It was perfect, Derek always wanted a big family and Stiles wanted the children to have siblings. They were all biologically Derek's, he reluctantly agreed to it after Stiles told him that he wanted them to have a chance to run the full moons with the pack. In between Maya and Michael, Erica and Boyd announced their pregnancy to a baby boy- Seth. Then a few years later, Jackson and his wife Sarah announced theirs to a baby girl- Cara. After Claudia and Caleb were born, Danny and Ethan adopted an child from Africa on their honey moon there- Kaleen. She was the sweetest, most well behaved child out of all of them and was the youngest, too.

Maya was turning ten that day, Michael was seven and the twins were four. The pack was coming over for the birthday party like they did every years and it was going to be a full house. Lydia and Ruth always came over early to help Stiles with the preparations because Tara never left her daddy's side and there was too much for one man to do, so they were already here when Derek walked into the kitchen with Maya on his back. "There's my little birthday girl!" Lydia announced as she turned around to place the cake on the island of their huge kitchen.

"Auntie Lydia!" Maya exclaimed, desperately trying to crawl down Derek. Once she was down, she ran over and tackled Lydia in a hug, smiling widely. Ruth walked out of the dining room and greeted Maya with a smile, then got back to work on icing the cookies. 

"How's my little candy bar, Baby Ruth?" Derek asked pulling up a chair next to her and sitting down. 

She blushed. "Uncle Derek, I'm thirteen now, I'm not a baby anymore."

"I know, but I'm still going to call you it weather you like it or not," He said, pinching her cheek. When she and her sister were born and he found her name was Ruth, he just couldn't pass up the opportunity. He started calling her Baby Ruth when Lydia wasn't around because she hated it, well, everyone called her it and the name sort of stuck. Stiles kicked himself everyday for a month for not thinking of it before Derek did. "I love you, candy." She groaned and let her head fall on her arms as he walked away. 

Derek snuck behind Stiles and put his hands around his waist, hugging him from behind, "Where's the rest of the litter?" he asked him. kissing his neck.

Stiles leaned into the touch and hummed, "Still asleep, I tried to get the twins up multiple times, but Mikey convinced them to go back to bed every single time. Maybe you should try," he suggested turning to kiss him on the chin. "And maybe you should get dressed while you're at it."

Derek looked down at his clothes, "What? You don't like my jammies?"

"Oh no, I like your jammies very much, but the pack is coming and maybe you could look like you didn't just wake up." Stiles leaned closer and whispered at him, "Because I love the way you look in the morning, that's why we never get out of bed until noon. So if you would like to stay like this, be my guest, but I don't think everyone is going to love the smell of my arousal all day. Especially the kids."

He kissed Stiles on the cheek and turned around to head for the stairs, yelling, "Wouldn't want that!" Derek reached their room and slipped into a pair of jeans and a green Henley before going to Michael and Caleb's room down the hall. The boys shared the room across from the girls' where Claudia was sleeping. Derek walked in the room and sat down on Michael's bed. He rubbed a hand down the seven-year-old's back, "Mikey, wake up."

He shook his head and buried himself further into the mattress.

"C'mon, now. Let's get up and celebrate your sister's birthday." He shook his head again. "Jayden will be over soon, you'll want to be up to play with him. You can show him your new toys."

He perked up at that. "Okay," he said throwing his covers off and running out the door.

"Get dressed!" Derek yelled after him. Michael rushed back into the room and grabbed a shirt and gym shorts before rushing back out and down the steps. Derek rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. He tiptoed over to Caleb and slowly woke him, "Caleb, little pup, wake up."

Caleb's eyes shot open, turning gold. His heart rate picked up tremendously as he looked around the room. He breathed in short, choppy breaths before his eyes landed on Derek, "Papa?"

"Yeah, Caleb, it's me. What's wrong?" Derek asked, worry pouring out of him. He wrapped Caleb in his arms and pulled him close to his chest. "Pup, what happened?"

"I- I had a dream that you and Daddy, Uncle Scott, and everyone else died," he cried out. "Then we had to be sold to some man and separated."

Claudia walked into the room rubbing her eyes and pulling at her princess nightgown. She hopped up on Caleb's bed and sat next to him, laying her head on his back, sensing her twin's distress. "We're not going anywhere, Pup. You don't have to worry about anything. We're all going to live happy lives together, no man is going to buy you and separate the pack. I won't let it happen."

Caleb cried on Derek for a few more minutes before he turned to cry with his sister. Derek got up and picked out their clothes so they could have time alone, he laid them on the bed and went over to kiss the top of Caleb's head. "Don't think about it, Pup. It was just a nightmare and nothing else. Now you two get dressed and meet us down stairs. Daddy's making pancakes and you'll want to get down there before Michael eats them all."

Claudia jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room before Caleb had time to react to what had been said. "Thanks, Papa," he whispered and hopped down to get his clothes.

Derek kissed him on the head and left the room. Once he was downstairs, he went to Stiles, "Caleb had a nightmare again."

"Oh no," Stiles worried, wiping his hands on his apron. "What was it this time?"

"The parents died and the kids were sold to and man who then in turn separated them."

"That's horrible, Derek," he said, putting his hand over his mouth. "Why is he thinking like this?"

Derek shook his head. "I don't know. I don't remember having nightmares like this as a kid, Laura didn't 'em either."

Lydia walked over to them, "He's scared because you're the Alpha and he knows that your title and your life could be taken at any moment." They stared at her confused. She rolled her eyes, "Tara had them when she was his age and I think it's just a wolf thing. They can sense your anxiety and fears as well as you can sense theirs. It's a thing they have to deal with and learn how to control. You need to show Caleb that there are dangers, but you'll be there for him. It's not that hard guys, it's like this is your first child or something."

They watched her strut away and set the table. She was amazing, even now. "We can do that, but let's get through Maya's birthday first. The rest of the pack will be here in less than an hour and we still have to decorate," Stiles said, turning back to the pancakes that were now burning. "Shit," he muttered.

The pack arrived on time, everyone except Jackson, who was out getting a last minute gift like usual. They were all seated in the living room watching Maya tear through her gifts one by one, getting excited more and more about the next one. Derek looked around at his pack. It was hard to believe that he strung this group of teenagers together all those years ago. They've been through so much together and will continue to be down the road. He relaxed in his lazy boy chair with Stiles sitting on him. This pack was his family, and it was getting bigger every year and he is so proud of what they've become and what they've done, cause he knows they wouldn't have it any other way. He shut his eyes and breathed in all the emotions that were filling the room: Love, Happiness, Affection, Gratitude. He exhaled.

Stiles turned around and leaned against him, "What're ya thinking?"

Derek smiled up at him, "Just how happy I am that I have you."

Stiles returned the smile and kissed him, "Good, because I'm not going anywhere."

Derek was perfectly okay with that because he was happy with waking up next to him, going to Maya's soccer practices together, watching Michael in the spelling bee, taking Caleb and Claudia to their piano lessons, and picking out groceries at the super market. Derek was just happy and he knew it would never change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohmigod. I'm done. I finished this thing. YAY! 
> 
> Well, I'm so grateful to everyone who stuck with me to the end and gave me support. I know it's been a bumpy road, and a long one, but it's been totally worth it in my opinion. Never would I ever thought that I could do this and finish it. I cannot express how grateful I am. :) I hoped you all loved it, because I know I did. 
> 
> Hit me up on tumblr ( from-planet-gallifrey ) if you wanna. But you don't have to, I'm not forcing you into this relationship. I ain't about that life. 
> 
> Take care fellow Sterek shippers :)


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